A judge has slammed “greedy” gym owner F45 for faking her own death before revealing the grim inspiration behind her $700,000 scam.
Perth District Court Judge Vicki Stewart said mother-of-two Karen Maree Salkilld had been “living beyond her means and was motivated by greed” when she faked her death to claim insurance.
Judge Stewart said Salkilld had previously legally claimed $500,000 on the life insurance policy of her ex-partner and father of her two children ‘who took his own life in 2018’ in Broome, Western Australia.
‘You filed a claim on his life insurance and received a payout of about $500,000 after his death. I was told that when your ex-partner died, you were in another relationship that… had just begun.
Salkilld used her new partner’s IDs in the insurance scam that ultimately landed her in prison for three years.
Salkilld’s new lover Kelly Winter was unaware she used his passport, a Western Australian driver’s license and a Medicare card, while pretending to be dead.
Judge Stewart said that after receiving the $500,000 payment following the death of her ex-partner, Salkilld invested the money in a farm and two F45 gyms.
But the 43-year-old ran into financial difficulties when the sale of the farm, which she had owned with her mother and late father, fell through while she was in the process of purchasing her second F45 franchise.
Karen Salkilld (above) has been jailed for swindling $700,000 after receiving a previous $500,000 payout over her ex-partner’s death.
Salkilld’s (right) fraud scheme involved posing as his then partner Kelly Winter (left) to claim a huge life insurance payout of £364,878 ($718,923AUD) earlier this year.
In February this year, Salkilld posed as Mrs Winter to tell her life insurance company, TAL Life Limited, that she had died in a car accident in Broome the previous December.
Salkilld submitted a claim using a false death certificate, a forged letter from the Coroner’s Court of Western Australia and a mock death inquest record.
The deception was initially successful and a week after the false claim, on February 14, the insurance company paid $718,923 into a MyState Bank Tasmania bank account opened by Salkilld in Ms Winter’s name.
But the fraud unraveled when Salkilld began making large withdrawals from the account.
Between February 15 and 16, Salkilld paid $169,767 to his creditors as well as to his personal transaction account.
Due to the volume and type of transactions, MyState Bank became suspicious, flagged the payments, froze the account and called the police.
When police asked ‘Kelly Winter’ to report to Palmyra police station, Salkilld used forged identification documents with her photograph superimposed on Ms Winter’s to prove her identity.
Karen Salkilld had two daughters with her ex-partner
Judge Stewart said the F45 gym owner was living beyond her means and was motivated by greed to defraud the insurance company to obtain a massive payout for her own “death”.
Salkilld was arrested on August 28 and is likely to be behind bars at Bandyup women’s prison in Perth’s north-east.
The police turned Salkilld away, but she became increasingly “desperate” for money.
She returned a third time three days later, “again pretending to be Winter” and insisting that a police officer call MyState Bank for her.
Police arrested Salkilld on March 8 and charged her with obtaining benefits by fraud and attempting to defraud by knowingly using a false registration. After pleading guilty, he was allowed to remain free on bail.
Salkilld continues to go about his business, running his F45 gyms, shopping and returning home to the million-dollar Perth rental he shared with his daughters.
Salkilld was arrested on August 28 and is likely to be behind bars at Bandyup women’s prison in Perth’s north-east, which houses inmates with complex needs.
Judge Stewart ordered him to pay restitution of $101,771.11 to TAL Life Limited.
“This money comes from a common fund,” the judge said.
“Insurance premiums go up for everyone, and in that sense it’s really an affront to the community.”
The earliest release date for Salkilld will be February 2026.