Kelowna man charged with murder released again

KELOWNA – A Kelowna man awaiting trial for the 2013 murder of Theresa Neville is expected to be released from prison again once he makes bail.

Jay Thomas, 62, was already released once until he was re-arrested earlier this month and charged with attempting to obstruct justice. Yesterday, Nov. 20, he was ordered released on $20,000 bail through a named surety.

Details of bail hearings in both Kelowna Supreme Court, where the murder trial is inching toward a trial date early next year and in provincial court where the new obstruction charge was heard, cannot be reported by law.

Grant Gray, Thomas’ lawyer, assured judge Meg Shaw his client would meet conditions of his bail and could be released as early as today. Additional orders were made for his release including having no contact with roughly a dozen named individuals.

Thomas was arrested last November, four years after Neville was found dead in her own home on Yates Road in Glenmore. Her children were home at the time.

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