The trial of accused serial killer Bruce McArthur will begin in January 2020 and last for three to four months.

A judge set a trial start date of January 6, 2020 during a judicial pre-trial at the University Avenue courthouse on Friday morning.

The closed door meeting was an opportunity for all sides to deal with logistics. In this case, it was used to decide when McArthur’s trial would start.

The judge had initially suggested that the trial could get underway was early as September 2019 but agreed to delay it until the following January at the request of the defence, which suggested it needed more time.

McArthur, 67, has been in custody since his arrest last January which followed months-long investigation into the disappearances of a number of men from the city’s gay village.

He is facing eight counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Andrew Kinsman, Selim Esen, Majeed Kayhan, Soroush Mahmudi, Dean Lisowick, Skandaraj Navaratnam, Abdulbasir Faizi and Kirushna Kumar Kanagaratnam.

McArthur appeared in person on Friday, led into the courtroom wearing a plaid shirt, dark sweater and jeans.

He did not speak, other than to say “good morning” to the judge.

At one point, he nodded to acknowledge that he understood what was happening.

Criminal Defence Lawyer Ari Goldkind said he believes the timeline is realistic given the weight of the case.

“People will hear three to four months and they’ll think that’s a long time, but let’s take people back to the fact that there are eight individual human beings, eight individual separate cases that are joined with one alleged serial killer. That takes time. Just imagine the amount of evidence, the DNA, the fingerprints, a computer being cloned, search warrants – all of those things Mr. McArthur’s defence team, if this goes to trial, challenge,” Goldkind said.

“Ultimately what the result will be will be is up to the jury. We live in a country where – and this is still a good thing in my mind, many will disagree – he will be extremely well represented to fight the charges and the jury will have the final say.”

McArthur had previously waived his right to a preliminary hearing. Some had speculated that the move suggested he was considering entering guilty pleas, which is something he could still do ahead of the 2020 start date.

Goldkind, who is not involved in this case, said he does not believe McArthur’s lawyers will ask for the eight charges to be tried separately.

“For a whole series of reasons, there’s one accused and a series of events linked to him. There’s one court, one process, trial time being valuable. I don’t think there will be an application to do that,” he said. “It actually makes sense to try them all together, as much as it is a difficult and uphill road for any defence lawyer, as good as they are.”

McArthur will return to court on Dec. 13 as the judicial pre-trial hearing continues.