Perth gym owner pleads guilty after faking own death

Western Australia gym owner Karen Salkilld has admitted to fraud charges after orchestrating an elaborate scheme to fake her own death for an insurance payout exceeding $700,000.

Salkilld, a Perth-based F45 franchisee, was arrested in March after filing the insurance claim in her partner’s name, falsely saying she had died in a car accident in Broome.

The claim included fabricated documents, consisting of a death certificate, a Coroner’s Court of Western Australia delegate letter and an investigation record into a death - all of which were fake.

The insurance company then transferred $718,000 into a bank account that Salkilld had set up in her partner’s name - although here is no suggestion her partner was involved in the crime.

The plot began to unravel when the fitness instructor’s bank flagged and subsequently froze the suspicious account.

In a desperate bid to access the funds, Salkilld visited Palmyra Police Station with several forms of ID that had been certified by an officer in an unsuccessful attempt to unfreeze the account.

Salkilld, a former East Fremantle Sharks assistant coach and mother-of-two, had been charged with gains benefit by fraud and intent to defraud knowingly using any record which is false and could face up to seven years in jail.

She pleaded guilty and her sentencing in the District Court is scheduled for next month.

While media reports indicate Salkilld is the franchisee at F45 Applecross her LinkedIn profile advises she is the ‘business owner’ at F45 Dianella.

Image: Karen Salkilld. Credit: Facebook.