Families of murderer Keith Yandle, drug dealer Sebastian Scott Adcock, seek to intervene in bids to confiscate their ‘criminal’ assets

Two infamous criminals awaiting sentencing are also set to lose their assets to prosecutors – prompting their families to intervene in court proceedings.

The families of the Kudla shed murderer and a “one-of-a-kind” dark web drug dealer will intervene to stop prosecutors seizing their assets as proceeds of crime, a court has heard.

On Thursday, counsel for Kathy Yandle told the District Court she would fight to have the 2ha property at which a man was murdered and buried in 2023 “excluded” from seizure.

Mrs Yandle is the wife of Keith Yandle, who murdered Steven Murphy as he cowered in the property’s shed, and the mother of Marco Yandle, who covered up the crime.

Kathy Yandle and her supporters leave court following a hearing for her son, Marco. Picture: Morgan Sette

Keith’s trial, in the Supreme Court, heard Mrs Yandle was present at the property when the murder occurred – she has never been accused of, nor charged with, any crime.

The Yandle family home, on Ormsby Rd at Kudla, has been under court-ordered restraint since May 2023, preventing anyone from profiting from or otherwise dealing with it.

Mr Murphy’s body was buried in a pit dug, by Keith, beneath the cannabis-growing shed in which he was shot.

Keith was subsequently found guilty at trial of having murdered Mr Murphy, following his reneging on the plea-bargain deal that secured the lesser charge of assisting an offender, rather than murder, for Marco.

Keith Yandle.

Marco Yandle. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

On Thursday, prosecutors said they sought to seize Keith’s “interest in the property”, meaning Mrs Yandle’s financial stake would remain untouched.

Counsel for Mrs Yandle, however, suggested that would be “messy”, and that concern had sparked their bid to have the property excluded from seizure.

Asked by Associate Judge Mark Blumberg if Mrs Yandle was seeking to protect her interest rather than the entire property, counsel replied: “Most likely.”

However, they asked for further time to consider their position, pending Keith’s murder sentencing on July 4.

Associate Judge Blumberg ordered the parties to file all necessary paperwork ahead of a hearing in September.

Sebastian Scott Adcock. Pictures: Instagram

Also on Thursday, the court heard the parents of drug-dealing personal trainer Sebastian Scott Adcock would make a similar application in their son’s seizure case.

Adcock, a personal trainer, pleaded guilty to multiple drug trafficking and money laundering offences, having made between $400,000 and $900,000 from the sale of synthetic drugs.

During his District Court sentencing submissions, Adcock’s counsel described his family as “highly religious, Pentecostal” and said they had raised him in a “sheltered childhood”.

They also urged the court to sentence him as a mid-level dealer, arguing the drugs he sold were so rarely-seen that the court could not “assume the harm” they might have caused.

On Thursday, prosecutors asked Adcock’s seizure case be adjourned until after his sentencing on July 8, and Associate Judge Blumberg agreed.