No Body, No Parole: Man charged with death of Timothy Pullen to make bid for release

ONE of the men charged over the death of Mackay man Timothy Pullen will make an audacious bid for release from jail, in defiance of the state’s new No Body, No Parole laws. If released, the victim’s family say they will never find their son.

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ONE of the men charged over the death of Mackay man Timothy Pullen will make an audacious bid for freedom on Friday, in defiance of the state’s new No Body, No Parole laws.

Stephen Dale Renwick is making a bid for freedom, despite the fact Timothy Pullen’s body has never been found. Picture: Peter Holt

Stephen Renwick will front the parole board in an unprecedented public hearing in Brisbane.

The hearing, which will be attended by Timothy’s devastated parents Leanne and Gary Pullen, could be the family’s last chance of finding out where their murdered son is buried.

But it will also give Renwick an opportunity to convince the Parole Board that he deserves his freedom, despite Timothy’s body never being found.

Under the new No Body, No Parole laws, a prisoner can be freed if the Parole Board decides they have made a good attempt to “identify the victim’s location”.

“If he was granted parole, I think our hope of ever finding Tim’s remains is lost,” Mrs Pullen told The Courier-Mail on Thursday.

In the past 20 months, Renwick – who disposed of Timothy’s body near Collinsville, west of Mackay, in 2012 – has given police two locations of where Timothy’s remains were buried.

When Renwick first took police to what he claimed was a bush burial site he did not speak to investigators and took a lawyer with him.

The search, which did not find anything, was part of Renwick’s plea deal with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Detectives approached Renwick again late last year, explaining the “No Body, No Parole” laws. He gave investigators a second location, not far from the original search site. Nothing was found again.

Tim Pullen was killed in April, 2012.

Police investigators, a bone expert and search co-ordinator are expected to be at court for Friday’s hearing.

The Courier-Mail has been told these experts could be cross-examined, although it is unclear how the hearing will unfold.

Police will argue that Renwick knows more than he has told police, and he should remain behind bars.

“We’re very apprehensive because if we haven’t had a funeral and said our respectful goodbyes to Tim, then I think it should be black and white – he shouldn’t be released from prison,” Mrs Pullen said.

Fiona Splitt and daughter Lisa Schuler with Leanne and Gary Pullen at the announcement of the No Body, No Parole laws. Picture: Peter Wallis

Renwick and his accomplice Luke Kister were convicted in 2016 of disposing of Timothy’s remains.

Kister was released from prison before the No Body, No Parole bill was introduced.

Benjamin Oakley – one of Timothy’s killers – was also controversially released last year just before the laws came into effect.

Timothy’s death has been in the spotlight after Corrections Minister Mark Ryan posed with the Pullens for photographs after the laws were introduced in August.

At the time, the Pullens had not been told that Oakley had been granted parole and would be released in November.

Tim Pullen’s parents, Gary and Leanne Pullen, say if Renwick is released, their location of their son’s body will remain hidden forever.

Renwick is now the family’s only hope for answers.

“We’ve got everything riding on tomorrow – on Renwick coming clean and telling us where Tim is,” Mrs Pullen said.

“I would absolutely love it if after tomorrow the Homicide Squad and Queensland Police were organising a search.

“I don’t know how I could die myself, without being able to respectfully say goodbye to Tim.”

Today’s hearing will also involve a second prisoner. Shaun Danny Dennis, who killed Kenneth Harris in 2003, will also apply for parole. Mr Harris’s body has never been found.