Stephen Fleming: Man accused of killing Melbourne teacher Annette Brennan pleads not guilty

The man accused of killing an English teacher whose body was later found by workers at a green waste facility has revealed plans to fight the case at trial, a court has been told.

Stephen Fleming, 46, returned before the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday afternoon for his first court appearance since he was formally charged with murder on July 9 last year.

He appeared via a videolink, sporting a green prison T-shirt and a new goatee.

The court was told Mr Fleming had elected to “fast-track” the case for trial in the Supreme Court.

He was warned by magistrate Michelle Mykytowycz this would relinquish his right to a committal hearing – in which a magistrate weighs the evidence to determine if it should proceed to trial.

At the end of the brief hearing, Mr Fleming was asked how he pleaded, responding: “Not guilty, Your Honour.”

His lawyer, Michael McGrath, told the court that he had been notified that prosecutors would no longer be relying on some technical evidence, including phone and GPS records.

Police allege Mr Fleming murdered Annette Brennan, 67, “on or around” July 1, with her remains located two days later by green waste management workers at a facility in Epping.

Details of the alleged murder have not been aired in court, although police claim Ms Brennan’s body was picked up in a wheelie bin outside a Coolaroo home in Melbourne’s outer north.

It’s alleged the pair were known to each other but not related.

At Mr Fleming’s last court appearance in July, prosecutors successfully sought a 20-week delay to progress the case, arguing there were a significant amount of investigative steps still to be done.

These included collecting and analysing CCTV, reconstructing crime scenes and waiting for a report from the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine into Ms Brennan’s cause of death.

Mr Fleming will next appear in the Supreme Court of Victoria on January 28.