Mackay prisoner loses appeal after police fail to locate body

A prisoner serving a five-year sentence for disposing of a body will remain in prison after failing to find it again under No Body, No Parole laws.

A PRISONER serving a five-year sentence for disposing of a body has lost a review application, after an unsuccessful bid for release under No Body, No Parole laws.

Stephen Renwick, 43, pleaded guilty to disposing of the body of Timothy Pullen in bushland west of Mackay, after he was slain over a $30,000 drug debt in 2012.

No Body, No Parole: New shot at freedom for Stephen Renwick over missing body

No-body prisoner Stephen Renwick in low-security prison

In May 2016, Renwick and co-accused Luke Shayne Kister pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to Mr Pullen’s manslaughter.

They were among six people convicted over his death.

In October, 2017, there was a comprehensive search by police and SES volunteers, based on Renwick’s description of where he said the remains of Mr Pullen were left.

It followed previous unsuccessful searches based on Renwick’s information.

Stephen Dale Renwick in Mackay. Picture: Peter Holt

No remains were found and in November last year, the Parole Board found it was not satisfied that Renwick had co-operated satisfactorily in the investigation.

The board did not consider Renwick to be credible, saying he had previously lied to police and before the last search had said for the first time that the body had been cremated.

Justice Peter Flanagan today dismissed Renwick’s application for a statutory order of review of the Parole Board’s latest refusal to grant him parole.

He found no errors in the Parole Board’s decision.

It means Renwick will now remain behind bars until his sentence ends in 2021.

Stephen Dale Renwick at court. Picture: Tony Martin

Renwick’s lawyers last year told the Parole Board that mobile phone signals detected on the night Mr Pullen’s body was hidden in bushland proved Renwick was in the area.

It was said that fire, natural decomposition and predators may explain why police had been unable to locate the body.

It was Renwick’s second attempt at parole after an earlier application brought on in June 2017, the first under new No Body, No Parole laws, was knocked back by the board.

He was allowed a second hearing last year, after the board revoked its earlier decision after realising they “failed to take into account material” — which included transcripts of previous hearings — when determining Renwick’s case.