No Body, No Parole: New laws could fail Timothy Pullen’s parents

THE man who disposed of Timothy Pullen’s body could walk free from prison in weeks after exploiting a loophole in the new No Body, No Parole laws. Outside court, his heartbroken mother expressed her disbelief.

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THE man who disposed of Timothy Pullen’s body could walk free from prison in weeks after exploiting a loophole in the new No Body, No Parole laws, by claiming the victim’s body was burnt so severely there was nothing left to find.

New details about the night Stephen Renwick and Luke Kister disposed of Mr Pullen’s body were revealed in the state’s first public parole board hearing yesterday.

Mackay man Timothy Pullen was killed in 2012 over a $7000 drug debt.

But what transpired has cast doubt about the effectiveness of the new laws.

Renwick gave the board a series of bizarre and questionable explanations for why Mr Pullen’s body had never been returned to his family.

Those explanations included that he incinerated Mr Pullen’s body in 90 minutes using diesel as an accelerant and that Cyclone Debbie blew away the rest of Mr Pullen’s remains.

They could be accepted as satisfactory by the board, enabling Renwick to walk free.

Timothy Pullen’s parents Gary and Leanne picture outside Brisbane Magistrates Court yesterday. Picture: AAP/Josh Woning

“I was hoping (No Body, No Parole) would be very black and white; that if a body isn’t found then you don’t get parole,” Mr Pullen’s mother Leanne said outside Brisbane Magistrates Court yesterday.

“But that’s not what it is. It’s if you co-operate.”

Mr Pullen was murdered over a large drug debt in April 2012.

For the first time, details about the night Renwick and Kister disposed of Mr Pullen were heard yesterday.

Stephen Dale Renwick is mounting a bid for release from prison, despite the fact Timothy Pullen’s body has never been found.

The pair told authorities they drove down Collinsville Elphinstone Rd, about 180km west of Mackay.

When they approached a farmhouse near a gully, they took the body 30-50m from the roadway, wrapped it in plastic and doused it in diesel.

The body burnt for 90 minutes.

The parole board is expected to post its decision online in the coming weeks.