Carly McBride murder trial: Carly's dad recorded alleged killer Sayle Newson's claims

Sayle Kenneth Newson, 43, Ms McBride's boyfriend of about eight weeks at the time of her disappearance, is on trial in Newcastle Supreme Court accused of murdering Ms McBride at Muswellbrook on September 30, 2014, and dumping her body in bush about 25 metres from Bunnan Road at Owens Gap.

The prosecution allege Mr Newson - who Crown prosecutor Lee Carr said had competed in a number of professional Muay Thai fights - intercepted Ms McBride after she left a visit with her daughter and killed her by inflicting a number of blows to her head and back.

Ms McBride's body was found nearly two years later in August 2016.

The jury were on Monday played seven telephone intercepts and a listening device recording of conversations between Mr Newson and Ms McBride's father, Steve McBride, between October 2014 and June 2017.

In the recorded conversations the pair discuss their theories on the police investigation and talk about the toll Ms McBride's disappearance is having on them.

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In one recorded phone call in May 2015, Mr Newson tells Mr McBride about a "bizarre" conversation he claims he had with Ms McBride on the day she went missing.

"The last serious words we had with each other was "if something happens to you, don't give up"," Mr Newson said in the recording. "I won't stop looking until the day I die because Carly could pop up in 10 years. "I'm a man of my word and I promised you I won't stop looking, I promised her." The pair met in person in June 2017 and the conversation was covertly recorded by police, with Mr McBride asking Mr Newson about earlier claims Mr Newson had made about "someone having [Carly's] hand".

Mr Carr had earlier told the jury that the only people who knew about Ms McBride's missing hands were police, Ms McBride's parents and the forensic department of John Hunter Hospital.

But in the recorded conversation Mr Newson said he had "gotten to the bottom of that and it was a f---ing lie".

Discussing the area of bush where Ms McBride's body was found Mr Newson told her father: "I've hunted that area. I know that area like the back of my hand."

The trial continues.

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