Jury finds Sayle Newson guilty of murdering girlfriend Carly McBride near Muswellbrook in 2014

Almost seven years after she was last seen, a jury has reached a verdict in the murder case of Lake Macquarie mother Carly McBride. 

An almost seven-year mystery has come to a close with a man found guilty of murdering Lake Macquarie mother Carly McBride and dumping her body in the Upper Hunter.

Sayle Kenneth Newson, 43, killed his new girlfriend in a jealous rage after weeks of tension in their relationship.

Newson was on Thursday found guilty by a NSW Supreme Court jury after nine days of deliberations and an eight-week trial.

Carly McBride disappeared from Muswellbrook in September, 2014. Her body was found two years later. Picture: Supplied.

After showing little emotion throughout the trial Newson lost control as the verdict was handed down, telling the judge and jury in an outburst they had made a mistake.

He and Ms McBride, 31, travelled from Belmont to Muswellbrook on September 30, 2014, so she could visit her child.

Newson dropped Ms McBride at her ex’s home while he spent time with a friend. Throughout the investigation and trial he claimed his partner was missing when he returned later to collect her.

But a jury instead determined he had used blunt force trauma to kill Ms McBride, burying her body at Owen’s Gap near Scone.

Her body was found by bushwalkers two years later.

While the Crown could not pinpoint what had caused or how the blows to Ms McBride’s head had occurred, Crown Prosecutor Lee Carr SC highlighted Newson’s fighting experience to the jury.

“(We have) led evidence of the ability of the accused as a fighter, participated in Muay-Thai and cage fighting, the accused refers to having 20 fights and 20 wins and trains with the best in the country,” Mr Carr said.

Sayle Kenneth Newson has been found guilty of murdering his girlfriend Carly McBride in 2014. Picture: Supplied.

The Crown acknowledged there was no smoking gun in the case, but rather the evidence was circumstantial.

A spotlight was cast on Newson’s behaviour before and after Ms McBride’s disappearance.

The Crown said Newson was jealous and controlling, and the couple had fought in the days before September 30, about men contacting Ms McBride via Facebook. Her account was then deleted.

It was also revealed he had acted strangely in days afterward, publicly appealing for information on his missing girlfriend but behind closed doors contacting women for sex.

Newson will be sentenced on September 17.

EARLIER

‘Motive is powerful’: Court hears murder accused was jealous

By Amy Ziniak on June 2, 2021

The court heard there was “powerful” motive in play for Sayle Kenneth Newson who was jealous and possessive over his girlfriend Carly McBride, accused of dumping her body in Upper Hunter bushland almost seven years ago.

The Crown said it was that jealous state of mind which caused him to act in a particular manner and that was to be “aggressive and controlling”.

Carly McBride, 31, was found by bushwalkers. Picture: Supplied.

43-year-old Newson is on trial in the Supreme Court at Newcastle, having pleaded not guilty to the murder of McBride in 2014.

The Crown allege he used blunt force trauma to kill the 31-year-old Belmont mother-of-two before he dumped her body out of sight at Owens Gap on Bunnan Rd - about 17 kilometres from Scone - on September 30, 2014.

Her body was found nearly two years later on August 7, 2016, by two bush walkers, who then reported their grisly find to police.

In his closing address, Crown Prosecutor Lee Carr SC summed up the two-month trial to the jury, referring to a number of pieces of evidence that would come together and become “clearer and clearer”.

“From those pieces a picture starts to emerge,” he told the packed courtroom.

Mr Carr said during Newson’s interviews with police, while he perceived the short relationship as “loving and supportive”, and that Ms McBride had been the first woman he loved in 14 years, there was evidence of jealousy, by his own admissions.

He directed the jury to one answer to a question, referring to it as “illuminating”,  that he was jealous and not trusting when Ms McBride went to see her daughter and ex-partner on occasions, including the day she disappeared.

“She was there for hours and I let it go but I was f**king chewing my lip thinking why hasn’t she rang me.” Newson told police in his interview.

Mr Carr also noted the accused had placed his relationship with the deceased at front and centre of the trial.

Police investigating the death of Carly McBride have executed two crime scene warrants in the Hunter Valley Local Area Command.

“The accused portraits the relationship in a glowing light for the purpose to project an image, that he would not do anything to hurt her,” he said.

“Is that accurate or a facade?

“Evidence from text messages show the reality of the relationship to be different. The picture it is building, there is tension in the relationship.”

Severe blows:

The Crown reminded the jury that experts had revealed Ms McBride had died due to blunt force trauma to the head and back.

Mr Carr said it was found the blows required “severe force” and that the collections of injuries could be accounted for by physical assault or by the use of object or objects.

“The Crown has led evidence of the ability of the accused as a fighter, participated in Muay-Thai and cage fighting, the accused refers to having 20 fights and 20 wins and trains with the best in country,” he said.

“It show his skills in combat sport, and use of his body as a weapon.

“Crown does not know and cannot tell you how injuries were inflicted, but the injuries are consistent with physical assault, with a person who has skills in combat sports.”

‘There’s no smoking gun’:

The Crown told the jury they had presented a “circumstantial case”.

There was no witnesses, tape, film or photos of Ms McBride being abducted by anybody or signs of a struggle, screaming or yelling, but inferences could be established from pieces of evidence.

Mr Carr said Ms McBride was described as a person who would fight back and resist if grabbed by someone while walking to McDonald’s on the day of her disappearance.

Evidence was given that the Belmont mother left her ex-partner Andrew Easton’s home on Calgaroo Av, Muswellbrook at around 2pm, before seeing her daughter, and before she disappeared.

Mr Carr said these pieces of evidence pointed to the fact she may have been approached by someone she knew.

“She met up with somebody she knew, the accused. There wasn’t a need to fight back because she met up with her partner. That can explain the lack of screaming, yelling and concern,” Mr Carr said.

The Crown also said there was evidence that the accused - who was with a friend that afternoon - was reported to be missing during the timeframe of Ms McBride’s disappearance.

“He (witness) doesn’t see the accused at those premises, says he wasn’t there, he doesn’t see the distinctive SS Commodore,” Mr Carr added.

A missing persons poster for Carly McBride who was found by bushwalkers two years after she disappeared.

Public vs private:

The court heard Newson and Ms McBride had argued over her communications with men on Facebook and the phone which prompted her account to be deactivated in the days before her disappearance.

This was just one of the instances of a good relationship in the public eye but not so much in private, with a “stark opposition of public versus private”.

On one hand Newson made “a very public display of concern” following Ms McBride’s disappearance, putting up posters and visiting licensing premises to ask about her, while on the other hand, in the days following her death, he lined up sex with several women, sending them sexual photos, while he also travelled to Sydney and Queensland as others were making efforts to look for her.

“The private persona is not that of a grieving man, it’s the behaviour of a person who knows McBride will not be found and won’t be coming back,” Mr Carr said.

“Less than 12 hours discovering McBride is missing, he’s contacting other women and making arrangements to get together for sexual activity.

“He’s not remotely concerned about this lady he loved for 14 years. It’s a behaviour of a person who knows she is not coming back because he knows he has ended her life.”

Those photos:

There was also question about photographs taken of the 31-year-old as she sat next to Newson in the passenger seat on their way to Muswellbrook on September 30.

The Crown claimed those three photographs – taken between midday and 12.02pm and later used in missing persons posters - had been edited by Newson some half an hour before he told police he had become worried about his girlfriend.

The trial continues.

Police investigating the death of Carly McBride executed two crime scene warrants in the Hunter Valley Local Area Command.

EARLIER

‘Is mummy hurt?’: Murder-accused’s tears

By Emily Burley on May 27, 2021

A man alleged to have murdered his girlfriend and dumped her body in Upper Hunter bushland almost seven years ago cried for her in a recorded police interview played to a jury.

Sayle Newson, 43, is standing trial in the Supreme Court at Newcastle, having pleaded not guilty to the murder of Carly McBride in 2014.

The Crown alleges Newson used blunt force to kill Ms McBride, 31, when the couple travelled from Belmont to Muswellbrook to visit her daughter on September 30 that year.

In an interview conducted on October 31, one month after Ms McBride’s disappearance, Newson told police he last saw his girlfriend when he dropped her off to see the child.

He said when he returned to pick her up later, the child’s father told him Ms McBride had already left for McDonald’s.

“I instantly knew something was wrong,” Newson said on the recording.

“I was anxious (about) what was going on with my girl, you know?

“I f**king knew straight away ... that something was up.

“I just had that gut feeling, you know what I mean?”

Newson told detectives he spent hours searching Muswellbrook for his missing girlfriend, showing people a photo he’d taken of her that day on their drive north.

“I shot straight down to Maccas,” he said.

“I did the f**king rounds man, every pub, club.”

Carly McBride's remains were found near Scone in the Hunter Valley. Picture: Facebook

Newson broke down in tears, sobbing into his hands as he told police he returned to the home to further question Ms McBride’s former partner.

“I went back to (his) house and he gave me another f**king excuse,” he said.

“He’s just sitting there emotionless, right?

“Then her daughter says, ‘where’s mummy, is mummy hurt?’

“Why would she say that? That’s what she f**king says to me.

“He was emotionless, f**king like a dead fish mate.”

Newson told detectives he had learnt not to be jealous in relationships and that there was no reason to be, “if you give a woman everything she wants”.

Crown Prosecutor Lee Carr SC previously told the jury the new couple had an “argument or a tiff” in the days before Ms McBride disappeared, about other men contacting her via Facebook.

Her account was then deactivated.

Mr Carr also told the jury Newson had shown a “very public display of concern” while searching for his girlfriend in the days after she vanished, but behind closed doors he was lining up sex with other women.

Ms McBride’s body was discovered buried in bushland at Owens Gap, 17km from Scone, almost two years after she was last seen alive.

The trial continues.

EARLIER

Student’s grisly find of ‘clandestine grave’

By Amy Ziniak on April 19, 2021

Taking photographs of vegetation and plants in remote bushland, a natural illustrator from Scone, made the grisly discovery of remains which later turned out to be Belmont mother-of-two Carly McBride, a court has heard.

Teresa Byrne, who was at the time studying for a bachelor of natural history, was on a field trip with a friend at Bunnan Rd, Owens Gap - about 17 kilometres from Scone - on August 7, 2016, looking for a particular tree to photograph.

The court heard, the pair instead came across what they initially thought was animal bones but on closer inspection they saw a human skull, skeletal remains and clothing, which included sandals, a bra and jeans.

Carly McBride, 31, was found dead in Scone. Picture: Supplied.

The jury were informed Ms Byrne took five photographs of the “clandestine grave” or “above ground” grave and marked the area with a rock before heading to Scone Police Station to report the find.

In Newcastle’s Supreme Court, Sayle Kenneth Newson is on trial for the murder of McBride - his then girlfriend - whose body was allegedly dumped in bushland on September 30, 2014, only to be found almost two years later.

Newson has pleaded not guilty to her death, with the trial recommencing on Monday following a two-week delay due to a “serious medical issue” which saw defence barrister Philip Massey unable to continue and barrister Chris Watson taking over.

The Crown’s case will look at “circumstantial” evidence, the days leading up to Ms McBride’s death, and photographs which they claim were edited by Newson.

Previously in his opening address, Lee Carr SC told the court the pair - who had only been dating for a short period - had an “argument or tiff” about men communicating with her on Facebook or over the phone, before her account was deactivated.

The court heard there was a “stark opposition of public versus private”.

On one hand Newson made “a very public display of concern” following Ms McBride’s disappearance, putting up posters and visiting licensing premises to ask about her, while on the other hand, in the days following her death, he lined up sex with several women.

NSW Police detectives at the site where Carly McBride's remains were discovered near Scone.

Mr Carr also detailed how the couple had travelled to Muswellbrook on the day of September 30 so she could see her daughter and Newson had taken photographs of the 31-year-old as she sat next to him in the passenger seat.

The Crown claimed those three photographs – taken between midday and 12.02pm and later used in missing persons posters - had been edited by Newson some half an hour before he told police he had become worried about his girlfriend.

It put to the jury that Newson left a friends house at around 2pm that day, met up with Ms McBride before inflicting “blunt force trauma” injuries that killed her before he dumped her body.

The Crown allege they were preparatory steps made by Newson in laying a false trail in the search for Ms McBride.

The trial continues.