Kelly-Ann May Sinclair granted bail for misconduct with corpse by interfering charge

The death of 28-year-old Blake Riley is still being treated as ‘suspicious’ by police, with the woman accused of dumping his body in bushland outside Toowoomba granted bail.

A Glenvale woman accused of dumping the body of her friend in bushland outside Toowoomba after he allegedly died of a drug overdose has been granted bail.

Kelly-Ann May Sinclair has been held on remand in custody since her arrest on March 16, 2021, where she was charged with misconduct with a corpse by interfering.

Police allege the 37-year-old mother disposed of the body of her friend Blake James Riley, in bushland in Preston in January 2021 after the 28-year-old died of a suspected drug overdose.

In Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Friday Ms Sinclair made an application for bail on the charge.

In opposing bail, police prosecutor Senior Constable Chris Willson revealed that a forensic pathologist’s autopsy report found that Mr Riley’s cause of death was a drug overdose, with methylamphetamine and heroin found in his system, but said that police considered the death as “suspicious”.

Kelly-Ann May Sinclair has been granted bail.

Senior Constable Willson said Mr Riley’s body was found in Preston off the Preston Boundary Road on January 7 after allegedly being dumped.

The court was told police investigations found that Mr Riley went to Ms Sinclair’s Glenvale home on the night of January 5 where he allegedly overdosed on methylamphetamine.

“As a result, it is alleged the defendant was involved in placing the deceased in a vehicle and driving said vehicle to a Stenner Street address,” Senior Constable Willson said.

“The defendant is alleged to have left the deceased in the back seat and return to her own home address in a different vehicle.”

The court was told CCTV and police investigations have failed to identify Mr Riley ever leaving the Glenvale address alive, or by any other means.

“More importantly, it appears at no time has any medical assistance been provided,” Senior Constable Willson said.

Police allege that on January 5 Mr Riley’s body was moved and later dumped by Ms Sinclair.

Senior Constable Willson told the court that as part of police investigations Ms Sinclair’s vehicle was seized, and a forensic analysis found Mr Riley’s blood “consistent with him lying across the back seat”, and a vacuum cleaner in the car was also found to contain blood evidence linked to Mr Riley.

As part of the opposition to bail, Senior Constable Willson said there was a “potential” risk of Ms Sinclair tampering with the investigation, given that there was a “large number” of witnesses.

Kelly-Ann May Sinclair has appeared before court charged with tampering with the corpse of her friend Blake Riley (right).

Police are still investigating Mr Riley’s death, with the court told it was considered “suspicious”, and could not rule out manslaughter charges in the near future.

Ms Sinclair’s solicitor Amber Acreman said her client maintained that Mr Riley attended her address and they talked for some two hours before Ms Sinclair, on her friend’s request, drove her in his vehicle to the Stenner Street address.

“There is no direct evidence that puts my client with Mr Riley at any point where he is not alive,” Ms Acreman said.

A Toowoomba local, Ms Acreman said her client had family support and had spent some 472 days in pre-sentence custody.

While she had previously struggled with drug addiction Ms Acreman said her client had used her time in custody to complete a number of programs to address her addiction as well as educational courses.

Acting magistrate Roger Stark said there was no evidence placed before the court to substantiate the police concerns that Ms Sinclair would pose a risk of interference with any witnesses and ordered that she be granted bail.

The court was told that Ms Sinclair had been convicted of an unrelated drug trafficking offence in Toowoomba Supreme Court in May, where she received a three year jail sentence with a parole release date of July 16.

With bail granted for the interfering with a corpse charge, Ms Sinclair is set to be released on that date.

Ms Sinclair is yet to enter a plea to the charge, which has now been committed to the next Toowoomba District Court call-over.