THEY had celebratory lunch in the Judgment Bar of the Courthouse Hotel, Caroline Byrne's family, the police and the prosecutor. The cricket was on TV but nobody took any notice of the Brisbane Test.

Just hours after Gordon Wood was convicted of murdering Byrne, her father, Tony, picked at fish and chips while his three surviving children, a granddaughter and his late daughter's boss, June Dally-Watkins, drank to Ms Byrne's memory, their health and the health of the people who had won the verdict.

At 2.13pm, the meal over, Mr Byrne, tall, elegant and straight-backed, rose and, walking up to the thick-set detective sergeant with a moustache, Matthew Moss, drew him close to softly press lips to his right cheek. The policeman kissed the old man tenderly.

And so did the head of Strike Force Irondale, Detective Inspector Paul Jacob, and each of his team, Detective Sergeant Paul Quick, analyst Bianca Comina and Detective Inspector Gary Jubelin. The Crown prosector, Mark Tedeschi, QC, awaited his turn, his face beaming.

"This is Dad's day," said Peter Byrne. "It's been coming so long. We've put our lives on hold and now we can move on."

The only outsider present was Angela Thomas, of Oatley Bay. She attended all but two days of the trial. She said she was not a court groupie but had become frustrated during jury duty at the lack of information made available to jurors. She wanted to see a case brought to its logical conclusion. "I selected two trials that I considered defendants were trying to get away with murder. Well, I watched Bruce Burrell get his just deserts, and now I've seen Gordon Wood."