Gilfillan was due to stand trial in Victoria in February last year on five counts of indecent assault and sexual penetration of a person under 16, relating to two schoolgirls in his care in Gippsland in the 1980s. Because of the presumption of innocence, the jury could not be told of his convictions for child abuse in New South Wales.
The podcast, launched in March 2023, claimed his conviction for the rape and torture of his daughter in 2016 may be a "grave miscarriage of justice". Gilfillan and his ex-wife Karen, who was also jailed for sexual abuse, told The Australian from jail: "We're innocent... these things just did not happen." A newspaper editorial in 2023 said the victim's story was "manifestly implausible".
Neither the podcast nor other reporting named the Gilfillans, because suppression orders were in place until a jury returned a verdict in the Victorian courts. But details such as the family's involvement in high-level athletics and teaching meant people recognised them.
On the eve of the empanelment of the jury, defence barrister Paul Kounnas told the court his client's name and criminal history were easily discoverable online. He said reporting of a jail interview by journalist Richard Guilliatt had sparked feverish speculation on internet forums such as Reddit.
"The podcast is the first link that comes up on typing the accused's name into Google, even though he is not identified by name in that podcast," Kounnas said. He applied for a permanent stay of the trial, arguing the "prejudice is immediate and obvious" and had been "inflamed to such a degree by the podcast, which I understand was reasonably high profile, that it's fuelled the internet flames, so to speak".