Four Hunter women, all different ages and from different backgrounds with one tragic thing in common.

They were all murdered between 2014 and 2020.

And while the coronavirus pandemic made 2020 somewhat of a frustrating and faltering year when it came to the administration of justice, it's hoped that in 2021 the families of these young women will get some answers and maybe some justice.

But there are a number of other high-profile Hunter cases that will be heard and determined in the next 12 months.

It was initially slated to run in December in Sydney, but instead next week a five-day coronial inquest into the murder of Gabriella Thompson and subsequent police shooting of Tafari Walton at Glendale will be held in Newcastle.

Ms Thompson, a young mother, was brutally stabbed to death by her ex-partner, 21-year-old Mr Walton, a troubled young man with a history of mental illness and domestic abuse who only seven weeks earlier had been granted bail and released on parole.

Mr Walton, who served more than two years in jail for a siege and firearm offences in 2016, was shot dead by police outside his mother's Glendale home less than 24 hours after he had brutally murdered the mother of his child.

The inquest is expected to focus on a number of issues, including the decisions to grant Mr Walton court-ordered parole and strict conditional bail after he was charged with stabbing another inmate at the Mid North Coast Correctional Centre. The inquest will run from January 18 to 22 in Newcastle Coroner's Court.

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In March, nearly seven years after Carly McBride went missing at Muswellbrook and nearly four years after he was arrested and charged with her murder, Sayle Kenneth Newson will face a 10-week re-trial in Newcastle Supreme Court.

Mr Newson's first trial in 2019 was aborted after the jury heard more than 30 days of evidence.

The second trial, listed to start in March, 2020, was delayed another 12 months due to the coronavirus pandemic and the NSW Supreme Court's then guidelines around jury trials.

Mr Newson, now 43, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms McBride at Muswellbrook on September 30, 2014, and dumping her body in bush about 25 metres from Bunnan Road at Owens Gap.

Despite repeated searches and appeals for information, Ms McBride's body wasn't discovered for nearly two years.

The prosecution allege Ms McBride was killed after a visit with daughter when a number of blows to her head and back were inflicted.

Those two major Hunter criminal cases are both expected to find some resolution in 2021.

But there are a number of other matters, slowly working their way through the local court, that are hoped could progress significantly.

It's been nearly 500 days since the body of Danielle Easey was found wrapped in plastic and partially submerged in murky Cockle Creek at Killingworth.

Since then three people have been charged in relation to her death.

They remain before the local court and have not entered any pleas.

The wheels of justice turn ever slowly and the investigation into Ms Easey's murder appears to be particularly detailed and complex.

What we do know is that detectives allege Ms Easey was killed by people she knew.

Stabbed in the back and beaten with a hammer, her body was then transported and kept in a "makeshift coffin" before it was dumped in Cockle Creek, police say.

And it is alleged that after Ms Easey's brutal death in the bedroom of a home at Narara on August 17, 2019, and before her body was found two weeks later, one of her "friends" allegedly pretended to be Ms Easey, messaging her mother via Facebook to ask for money.

In September, 2019, the Newcastle Herald exclusively revealed extensive details about the final days and gruesome death of Ms Easey after two of her associates, 34-year-old Justin Kent Dilosa and his former partner Carol Marie McHenry, 33, appeared in court charged over her murder.

Mr Dilosa was charged with Ms Easey's murder, while Ms McHenry was initially charged with being an accessory after the fact to Ms Easey's murder and dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception for allegedly pretending to be Ms Easey and defrauding Ms Easey's mother, Jennifer Collier, of $50 on August 30, the day before Ms Easey's body was found.

But the Herald revealed last month that Ms McHenry's charges had been upgraded to murder, with detectives now alleging she not only tried to conceal and profit from Ms Easey's death but that she was responsible for it as part of a joint criminal enterprise with Mr Dilosa.

A third man, Jeremy Princehorn, has been charged with concealing a serious indictable offence of another person in relation to Ms Easey's murder.

Late last year he failed to appear in court and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

He was later arrested and appeared in court over the holiday break.

Mr Dilosa and Ms McHenry are next due to appear in Gosford Local Court in February.

In June, police were called to a home at Metford where they made a shocking discovery.

Inside was the body of 18-year-old Emerald Wardle. Outside was her boyfriend, 20-year-old Jordan Brodie Miller.

Mr Miller was charged with her murder and the next day, when appearing in Newcastle Bail Court via audio visual link, he made a startling admission, repeatedly saying "I am a murderer" before his solicitor asked that the video be cut off and Mr Miller undergo a mental health assessment.

Mr Miller's matter is next in Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday.

As well as the trials and charges relating to those four women, there are other murder trials scheduled in another busy year in Newcastle Supreme Court.

In February, Shane Holmes will face a re-trial for the alleged murder of his mate, Chad Hadden, at Newcastle, before Luke Jones goes on trial for the alleged murder of Philip Steele during a home invasion at Whitebridge.

Lily Ridgeway will claim she was acting in self-defence when she stabbed to death Jason Adams at Raymond Terrace in February last year while Jamie Cust, Jie William Smith and Shaun Johnson will all face murder trials in Newcastle during the second half of the year.

After his high-profile rape trial ended with a deadlocked jury in December, the re-trial of former NRL star Jarryd Hayne in Sydney in March will dominate the headlines again.

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