CAROL Marie McHenry, long accused of being an accessory after the fact to the brutal murder of Danielle Easey, the young mother whose body was found dumped in Cockle Creek last year, has had her charges upgraded to murder.
Ms McHenry, 33, will appear in Gosford Local Court on Friday where the DPP will formally finalise the charges against the former "friend" of Ms Easey, now alleging she not only tried to conceal and profit from Ms Easey's death but that she was responsible for it as part of a joint criminal enterprise with her then partner, Justin Kent Dilosa.
The Newcastle Herald revealed in September last year that detectives allege Ms Easey was stabbed in the back and neck and beaten to death with a hammer before her body was transported and kept in a "makeshift coffin" before finally being dumped in Cockle Creek.
And it is alleged that after Ms Easey's brutal death in the bedroom of a home at Narara and before her body was found wrapped in plastic and partially submerged in a murky creek two weeks later, one of her "friends", alleged to be Ms McHenry, pretended to be Ms Easey, messaging her mother via Facebook to ask for money.
Mr Dilosa, 34, has been charged with Ms Easey's murder and is alleged to have stabbed and bludgeoned the mother-of-two with a hammer in the bedroom of a home at Reeves Street, Narara, on August 17 last year.
Mr Dilosa, who is represented by solicitor Kate Maher, remains behind bars and will next appear in Gosford Local Court in February.
Ms McHenry had been charged with being an accessory after the fact to Ms Easey's murder and dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception for allegedly pretending to be Ms Easey and defrauding Ms Easey's mother, Jennifer Collier, of $50 on August 30, the day before Ms Easey's body was found.
But on Friday, more than 14 months after her arrest, the DPP will finalise and upgrade the charges against Ms McHenry.
Meanwhile, Jeremy Aaron Princehorn, 37, of Cardiff, will also appear in Gosford Local Court on Friday charged with concealing a serious indictable offence of another person.
Mr Princehorn is accused of concealing the murder of Ms Easey and allegedly told detectives Mr Dilosa showed him the body of the 29-year-old at the house at Narara but said he did not go to police because he was scared of Mr Dilosa.
Detectives allege Mr Princehorn knew about the death of Ms Easey as early as August 18, a day after they say she was allegedly murdered at a home at Narara, and nearly two weeks before her body was found wrapped in black plastic in Cockle Creek at Killingworth.
