Man who sparked Sydney riot 'made up police chase story'

Police are claiming they have proof that allegations which helped to spark days of rioting in a Sydney suburb following a fatal crash were concocted.

Macquarie Fields erupted into violence two weeks ago after a stolen car allegedly driven by local criminal Jesse Kelly smashed into a tree, killing Matthew Robertson, 19, and Dylan Rayward, 17.

Residents of the run-down district believed the crash had been caused by an unmarked police car driven by detectives ramming the stolen Holden.

But as Kelly negotiated his surrender after 12 days on the run, police released tapes of a secretly recorded conversation between the 20-year-old man and his aunt, Deborah Kelly, which purports to show the story had been concocted.

Deborah Kelly has been charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice and with concealing an indictable crime and has been remanded in custody.

Jesse Kelly was also remanded in custody yesterday, until March 18, on two charges of manslaughter and others of affray and assault causing grievous bodily harm.

The alleged actions of the pair helped to set Macquarie Fields alight for four successive nights after the crash on February 26, with youths pelting riot police with Molotov cocktails, bricks and stones. "The general community has been affected by [the pair]," a police statement to Campbelltown Local Court said when Deborah Kelly was remanded. "This has further perverted the course of justice."

The riots and the subsequent police investigation also lit a political fuse, marked by bitter tirades against the policies of Premier Bob Carr's State Labor Government and accusations of incompetence against the police.

Police failed to use two opportunities to arrest Kelly after the accident - including one the day after the accident when he reported to a local police station on an unrelated matter - leading to a long and embarrassing chase.

This ended late on Wednesday night when Kelly gave himself up to police in bush near the outer Sydney suburb of Campbelltown.

Police released to the court recordings made shortly after the accident by bugs planted as part of an another investigation already under way.

The tapes, reported in the Sydney Morning Herald, allegedly record Deborah Kelly saying to her nephew: "I was told every one of you was gone tonight. We're going to cop it. There are huge riots out there.

"It's not your fault, you know that. It's the coppers. It's not your fault, Jesse, please. The coppers did this to you so it was not your fault. You remember that, that they rammed you, didn't they?"

Jesse Kelly: "Nah, I just lost it."

Deborah Kelly: "I mean, I have done 260 on that corner Jesse. There's no way you can lose it at that. The coppers' car's damaged. They hit you. It's damaged and the [detectives] that were in that car vanished within five minutes and they just took the car away."