Aussie mum jailed after faking her own death for major insurance payout
A Perth woman who faked her own death to secure a $700,000 insurance payout has been sentenced to three years behind bars.
Karen Salkilld, 43, an F45 gym franchise owner, claimed she died in a car accident in Broome in December 2023.
The mother-of-two, also provided a falsified death certificate, a coroner report and funeral documents, when she made the claim in January.
A month later, she received more than $718,000 from Insuranceline, which she accessed by posing as her former partner who was the beneficiary of the sum and opening a bank account in her name.
The "relatively sophisticated" scheme was initially successful, until police became suspicious and froze her account after she moved large amounts of the money around, according to Nine News.
Salkilld had to visit Palmyra Police Station in person to certify her fake documents, but after three visits, officers realised something was up and arrested her in March.
There is no evidence that her former partner knew of the crime.
The fitness instructor admitted that she got the idea from a movie after she fell into debt, although she didn't specify which one.
"Your offending could not be described as opportunistic," Judge Vicki Stewart told Perth District Court said in sentencing the fitness instructor.
"It was calculated and required both effort and persistence."
"You were living beyond your means and over-committed yourself," Stewart added.
Salkilld pleaded guilty to gaining benefit by fraud and knowingly using a false record to defraud, and was sentenced to three years in prison on Monday.
She was ordered to pay a $101,771 compensation to the insurance company. A restitution order for funds in the bank account was also issued - one for $549,195 and another for $67,995 - with the latter being held in the bank's fraud recoveries account.
Speaking to Nine News outside court after the sentencing, Salkilld's estranged sister Ann said "it doesn't surprise me that she is capable of doing things like that."
She will be eligible for parole in February 2026.
Image: Nine News