Suspicious fire at hair salon owned by Kieran Loveridge’s cousin may be linked to bikie feud
A HAIR salon that went up in flames in suspicious circumstances was run by the cousin of one-punch killer Kieran Loveridge. The Sunday Telegraph can reveal the owner was also dating a bikie gang associate, fuelling suspicions the fire may have been part of a violent feud between rival gangs.
True Crime
Don't miss out on the headlines from True Crime. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A HAIRDRESSING salon that went up in flames in suspicious circumstances earlier this year was run by the cousin of one-punch killer Kieran Loveridge.
Karissa-Leigh Loveridge, the owner of K & Co Hair at Emu Plains in Sydney’s west, was also dating a Lone Wolf bikie gang associate, fuelling suspicions the fire may have been the latest salvo in a violent feud between rival gangs.
The salon on the Great Western Highway was gutted in the early hours of the morning of February 21.
Its owners originally suggested on social media the fire was a result of an electrical fault.
However, police have since ruled out that theory and are certain it was deliberately lit.
“We believe it could have been targeted,” Nepean Police District crime manager Detective Inspector Grant Healey said.
“We need other people to talk to us because it could be linked to other incidents.”
Karissa-Leigh Loveridge’s cousin, one-punch killer Kieran Loveridge, is a Lone Wolf outlaw motorcycle gang associate, and she is also in a relationship with Lone Wolf associate Ethan Stephenson, an electrician by trade.
She refused to comment when contacted yesterday.
Kieran Loveridge, 24, is serving a minimum seven years jail for the fatal assault of 18-year-old Thomas Kelly in 2012 in which he punched his unsuspecting victim in the back of the head on a Kings Cross street.
The suspicious fire occurred during a spike in violence around Penrith and Emu Plains and was linked to a feud between the Rebels and Lone Wolf bikie gangs.
That conflict spilt into the Silverwater prison yard on February 26 when Kieran Loveridge allegedly assaulted Rebels Penrith chapter president Matthew Rymer.
The scuffle occurred five days after the hair salon fire with detectives looking at whether Kieran went after the Rebels figure in retaliation for the blaze at his relative’s business
Four shootings have also been linked to the feud, including one where investigators suspect a gunman who opened fire at a property on Hillcrest Road in Emu Heights on February 17 targeted the wrong house.
A man in his 30s copped a gunshot wound to the leg.
Another man was shot at Cranebrook on January 29.
Two other houses were peppered with bullets in separate drive by shootings in Emu Plains and Cambridge Park in March.
The Emu Plains house belonged to the family of Michael Davey, a patched Rebels bikie known as the “Prince of Penrith” who was gunned down in 2016.
Police said the cause of the bikie feud is unclear.