An inquiry into the handling of the case against former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann has taken big step forward with a decision on who will head the review.

Retired Queensland judge Walter Sofronoff KC has been named to lead the inquiry which will look into the conduct of police and prosecutors in the aborted trial.

The board of inquiry is the ACT government’s equivalent of a royal commission.

The review was announced in December after the ACT’s chief prosecutor Shane Drumgold claimed police had pressured him to abandon the trial.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has said the inquiry would investigate the “rigour, impartiality and independence” of the criminal justice system in the Lehrmann case.

Mr Sofronoff, an eminent legal figure, is a retired solicitor general of Queensland and formerly headed the Queensland Court of Appeal.

He led the Grantham Floods Commission of Inquiry in 2016 and more recently oversaw a commission of inquiry into failings at Qld’s DNA testing laboratory.

Bruce Lehrmann faced a trial in the ACT Supreme Court in October, which was derailed due to juror misconduct.

The charges against him were later dropped due to concerns about the impact a second trial would have on Brittany Higgins’ mental health.

Mr Lehrmann has denied raping Ms Higgins in Parliament House in 2019.

On the weekend it also emerged Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds was pursuing defamation action against Ms Higgins’ partner David Sharaz.

In a writ lodged with the Supreme Court of Western Australia, the local senator claimed Mr Sharaz falsely defamed her via two tweets posted in 2022.

Ms Higgins alleged she was raped in 2019 by Bruce Lehrmann inside Senator Reynolds’ ministerial office, for whom they both worked as staffers.