Details of Johnny Birch’s death revealed as Brittany Kargarian bailed on murder accessory charge

For the first time the alleged motive behind the killing of a man found in a shallow grave in Sydney’s north west can be revealed. Read the shocking thing one of his closest friends allegedly did in the hours after his death.

Johnny Birch was allegedly struck and killed by a ute and his body dumped in a shallow grave after a failed attempt to steal cash from the vehicle, a Sydney court has heard.

Slain Sydney father Johnny Birch was allegedly mowed down by a 4WD ute and his dead body buried in a shallow grave after he was caught trying to steal from his accused killer, a court has heard.

Police allege 24-year-old James French was behind the wheel of a Toyota HiLux ute when it fatally struck Birch as he fled along Gleness Pl in Glenorie just before dawn on March 12.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal Birch and an associate had broken into the HiLux just minutes earlier in an attempt to steal a bag of cash, having allegedly been tipped off to its location by French’s disgruntled partner and Birch’s close friend, 35-year-old Brittany Kargarian.

According to court documents, Kargarian learned of Birch’s death almost immediately, but rather than turn her boyfriend in for his alleged crime, police claim she phoned a friend and begged him to come and help French dispose of the body.

Birch’s remains were found two days later in a shallow grave in a paddock at the end of the street.

Police block traffic in Glenorie where a body was found that was later identified as Sydney father Johnny Birch. Picture: NewsWire/ Sam Ruttyn

An autopsy revealed he had suffered significant blunt force trauma, but the cause of death was inconclusive.

Full details of the police case against French and Kargarian can be revealed for the first time after Kargarian, who is facing charges of being an accessory after the fact to murder and accessory to larceny, was granted bail by the NSW Supreme Court last month on an $850,000 surety.

As part of her bail, she is required to undergo a course of rehabilitation for drug addiction.

French remains behind bars, bail refused, on a charge of murder.

‘I knew right away’

A former prison buddy who Johnny Birch recruited to help him carry out the planned robbery told police he spent “almost 24 hours a day” looking for Birch in the two days after the failed robbery, only to hear of his death on the news.

Johnny Birch, was found in a shallow grave at Glenorie.

The man, who the Telegraph has chosen not to identify, gave a statement to detectives, revealed in court, saying he had first met Birch, or ‘Birchy’ as he called him, when the two were in prison together, but became close friends when they both got out.

He alleges that in the weeks before his death, Birch received a tip from “Brit” that her boyfriend kept a bag containing cash and drugs in his car.

The pair agreed to break into the car and steal the cash, making their way to Glenorie just before 5am, where they discovered his ute parked outside the gate into Kargarian’s rental property.

A woman crouches down as she is taken into custody in the back of a police car as part of the investigation into the death of Johnny Birch. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

According to the man’s police statement, which was tendered in Kargarian’s bail proceedings, the pair pried the car door open but triggered an alarm, prompting Birch to grab the bag and run.

The man said they both sprinted back to his car but Birch quickly ran out of puff and languished about 70m behind him, at near-walking pace.

He said Birch yelled at him to get in the car and go, at the same time he allegedly heard an engine rev and saw headlights “chasing” them from the end of the road.

Court documents state he told police he looked in his rear-view mirror to see the car allegedly swerve sharply to the left side of the road, up an embankment where he’d last seen Birch.

The man drove off, later telling police he tried to circle back about 10 minutes later but couldn’t remember the name of the street and got lost.

“I can’t tell you how many times I went up and back on Old Northern Road, it was heaps,” he said.

The court heard the man spent the next two days trying to find the 39-year-old, but to no avail.

He said he and one of Birch’s friends visited Kargarian’s house multiple times but she allegedly said she hadn’t seen or heard from Birch.

“Brittany didn’t seem concerned at all when I spoke to her,” he said.

The man said he was stunned when he learned later that a body had been discovered in Glenorie.

“I knew right away it was Birchy,” he said.

“When I heard the news … I immediately thought the car with the high beams must have hit [him].

“That was the only scenario that made sense to me.”

‘Hit him at 80km/hr’

A man allegedly recruited by Kargarian to help dispose of Birch’s body in the aftermath of his death told police the accused killer allegedly confessed to running the deceased over “at 80km/hr”.

The man was given indemnity from prosecution in exchange for providing a statement to detectives, which was tendered to the court as part of Kargarian’s bail proceedings.

“I hit him with my car, with the car going 80 km/hr - he’ not alive, he’s dead,” French allegedly told the man after he’d been summoned to the Glenorie address by a teary Kargarian.

The man alleged Kargarian only told him of Birch’s death after he’d arrived.

“Gorilla’s dead,” she said, referring to her nickname for Birch.

An area of a Glenorie property where police extensively searched after a tip-off. Picture by Max Mason-Hubers

The man told police he suggested they call an ambulance, but French allegedly said there was no doubt in his mind that Birch was already dead.

The man said he accompanied French to the site where he saw Birch’s body and confirmed he was no longer breathing.

“I realised he was dead,” he said.

The man told police he refused French’s alleged request for help in moving the body, but watched on as French allegedly wrapped Birch’s remains in a white sheet and a grey tarpaulin, and tied his ankles with rope.

The man alleges French then dragged Birch’s wrapped body up the road to an empty paddock at the top of the street, where he allegedly buried it in a shallow grave.

Johnny Birch was allegedly killed after a failed theft, police say.

The man told police he was in the ute at the time and didn’t see how the body was fixed to the car or how it was dragged, but likened it to a scene from a Hollywood blockbuster.

“So, if you’ve watched the movie Troy, when Hector is killed in the movie, when he fights Achilles … Hector’s body then gets towed behind Achilles’ chariot,” he said.

“Now, I was inside the car so I couldn’t see it, but that is what I imagined it would have looked like.”

The man said Kargarian was “distraught” when he confirmed Birch’s death.

Kargarian is yet to enter a plea to the charges. The matter will return to court in August for further mention.

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Originally published as Details of Johnny Birch’s death revealed as Brittany Kargarian bailed on murder accessory charge