Judge slams ‘greedy’ mum who faked her own death – and the grim inspiration behind the F45 gym owner’s $700,000 scam

A judge has convicted a “greedy” F45 gym owner for faking her own death, before revealing the grim inspiration behind her $700,000 scam.

Judge Vicki Stewart at Perth District Court said mother-of-two Karen Maree Salkilld was “living beyond her means and 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 made a claim on his life insurance policy and upon his death you received a benefit of approximately $500,000. By the time your ex-partner died, I was told you were in another relationship that was… just beginning.”

Salkilld used her new partner’s IDs in the insurance scam, which ultimately saw her jailed for three years.

Salkilld’s new lover – Kelly Winter – was unaware she was using her passport, a Western Australian driver’s license and Medicare card while pretending to be dead.

Judge Stewart said that after receiving the $500,000 payout following the death of her ex-partner, Salkilld invested the money in a farm and two F45 gyms.

But the 43-year-old fell into financial difficulties when the sale of the farm, which she owned jointly with her mother and late father, fell through while she was in the process of buying her second F45 franchise.

Salkilld’s (right) fraud scheme involved posing as her then partner Kelly Winter (left) to claim a huge life insurance payout of £364,878 ($718,923 AUD) 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 crash in Broome in December last year.

Salkilld filed a claim using a false death certificate, a forged letter from the Western Australia Coroner’s Court and a forged report of the death investigation.

The hoax was initially successful and a week after the false claim, on February 14, the insurance company paid out $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 creditors and to her 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 the fake IDs with her photo 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 by defrauding the insurance company of a huge payout for her own ‘death’

Salkilld was taken into custody on August 28 and is believed to be behind bars at Bandyup Women’s Prison in Perth’s north-east

Police sent Salkilld away, but she became increasingly ‘desperate’ for money.

Three days later, she returned a third time “again pretending to be Winter” and insisted that a police officer call MyState Bank for her.

Police arrested Salkilld on March 8 and charged her with obtaining advantage by fraud and intent to defraud by knowingly using a false file. After pleading guilty, she was allowed to remain free on bail.

Salkilld went about her business, running her F45 gyms, shopping and returning home to the $1 million Perth rental she shared with her daughters.

Salkilld was taken into custody on August 28 and is likely to serve time behind bars at Bandyup Women’s Prison in Perth’s north-east, which houses female prisoners with complex needs.

Judge Stewart ordered her to pay restitution of $101,771.11 to TAL Life Limited.

“This money comes from a pool,” the judge said.

“Insurance premiums are going up for everyone and in that sense it’s really an offense against the community.”

Salkilld’s earliest release date is February 2026.