'Keep smiling, mumma': Carly's mum ready to move on after killer's mate jailed

And after an eight-year wait for justice, Carly's mum, Lorraine Williams, says she feels like she can finally start smiling again.

James Anthony Cunneen, now 31, who helped dump the body of Ms McBride and lied to police to protect her killer, was on Friday jailed for a maximum of seven-and-a-half years, bringing to an end eight years that Lorraine describes as a living hell, a rollercoaster of uncertainty and heartache and three criminal trials that ended in two convictions.

"It's been really gruelling and horrible," Lorraine told the Newcastle Herald on Friday afternoon. "And now is the culmination and they are both locked up for what they did. I could never have peace until [Cunneen] got his comeuppance. It'll never be enough. Nothing will ever be enough, Carly is not coming back. But at least they are off the streets and they can't do this to any other women."

Cunneen was in July found guilty of being an accessory after the fact to murder over the brutal death of Ms McBride, a jury finding he knew all along what happened to the "missing" mother.

Cunneen knew because his mate, Ms McBride's boyfriend of about eight weeks, Sayle Kenneth Newson, told him on the afternoon of September 30, 2014, that he had just picked her up in Muswellbrook and, in a jealous and ice-fuelled rage, bashed her to death.

And then, shortly after hearing that shocking news, Cunneen and Newson put their heads together and came up with a plan to dispose of Ms McBride's body, create a false alibi for Newson and point the finger at Ms McBride's ex-partner.

Ms McBride's skeletal remains were found in bushland at Owens Gap in August, 2016.

After an initial trial was aborted, Newson was found guilty of murder last year and is serving a maximum 27-year jail sentence.

With time served, Newson will be eligible for parole in August 2038, at the age of 61.

Cunneen was initially charged with murder while serving what would end up being a maximum eight-year jail term for possessing firearms and drugs.

But the murder charge was later dropped when prosecutors could not prove he was with Newson at the time Ms McBride was picked up and murdered.

After Cunneen was convicted of assisting Newson, Lorraine told him during a sentence hearing that he could have said something to put an end to two years of uncertainty and heartache while her daughter remained "missing".

Judge Phillip Mahony said on Friday that it was a "misguided loyalty" to Newson - an older man he had met in drug rehabilitation - that motivated Cunneen to help him dump the body, lie to police and create missing persons posters.

"I find that he willingly participated in the disposal of the body knowing well the circumstances of her murder and assisted Newson to evade prosecution for his offence for a period of well over two and a half years," Judge Mahony said. "He did so out of misplaced loyalty to Newson and he maintained solidarity with Newson for the entirety of that period."

Cunneen, who still has not broken ranks from Newson, "categorically denies the charge and maintains his innocence", the court heard. He was jailed on Friday for a maximum of seven-and-a-half years, with a non-parole period of four years, making him eligible for parole in May, 2026.

Lorraine said that "loyalty" to Newson made her "sick".

"His silence wasn't golden, was it," she said.

But she said after all these years it was time to move on.

"Carly's mantra was keep on smiling," Lorraine said through tears. "And that is what I live by. It's done now. "[Detective Inspector Ian Wright] and I have always said it's a rollercoaster. For me, I think the last carriage has docked. And I've got to let it go now and live the life that Carly wants me to. 'Keep smiling, Mumma', she used to say. We gotta let it go and keep on smiling for Carly."

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