Christchurch 'Black Widow' Helen Milner mounts new legal challenge over husband's murder

The so-called Christchurch 'Black Widow' is mounting a fresh legal challenge over her conviction for the murder of her husband.

Helen Milner was found guilty of poisoning Phil Nisbet with Phenergan - a long-acting antihistamine used to treat allergy symptoms. Now she wants samples of his body tissue released for re-testing.

But Nisbet's sister, who convinced police Nisbet hadn't committed suicide, is ready for another battle.

Lee-Anne Cartier is in Wellington preparing for another legal fight over her brother's 2009 murder.

"It's insane to think that this long it's still going on," she says. "It's insane to think after ten-and-a-half years. It's not fair."

Cartier fought for police to investigate her brother's death, which was originally ruled a suicide.

As a result, Milner was charged with Nisbet's murder. She was found guilty in the High Court in 2013 for administering a fatal dose of the anti-allergy medication Phenergan.

Milner was sentenced to 17 years in prison but continues to maintain her innocence. She appealed her murder conviction from behind bars unsuccessfully - now she's now trying another avenue.

On Wednesday the Court of Appeal in Wellington will hear Milner's application to have ESR release Nesbit's bodily samples so that she can have them tested at a laboratory in Australia.

Milner hopes the result of testing will support an application for a Royal prerogative of mercy, which provides a special avenue for criminal cases to be reopened.

But Cartier says its a waste of time.

"To say that he died of a heart attack and to say that there is evidence of anything pre-existing is just a total waste of taxpayers money," she says.

Nisbet's family want the samples returned to them.

"We've got arrangements to have those last parts cremated and added to his urn," Cartier says. "We just want him to rest in peace. It isn't fair."

Cartier is now steeling herself for yet another day in court, seeking justice for her brother right to the bitter end.

Newshub.