CONTENT WARNING: This article discusses alleged domestic violence.
A retired British carpenter allegedly murdered a woman and set her house alight after she tried to break off their relationship, a court has been told.
Timothy Loosemore has pleaded not guilty to arson and murder following a blaze at Maree Vermont‘s home in the rural town of Goldie, north of Melbourne, in the Macedon Ranges in 2023.
He arrived in Australia in 2022 to travel when he met Vermont, who was offering free accommodation on Airbnb in exchange for work being done around the house.
They struck up a friendship and at one point, that relationship became intimate.
Vermont had been planning overseas trips and wanted to break things off, describing the relationship to friends as “just sex” and a “fling”, Crown prosecutor Grant Hayward told the Victorian Supreme Court jury trial on Tuesday.
Hayward said she texted her son on July 31, 2023 saying Loosemore had “taken it bad” after she tried to end things.
On August 5, Vermont picked Loosemore up from the dentist and they went to the shops before having dinner at home and consuming a lot of alcohol.
“At some stage there was argument and Loosemore murdered Vermont,” Hayward told the jury.
Prosecutors allege he killed her and then set fire to the house or assaulted her and tried to conceal the assault by setting the house alight.
Vermont was found laying face down in the lounge room with such severe burns that her legs and arms were reduced to fragments, the jury was told.
Arson investigators believe the fire began in the lounge room and quickly spread, possibly due to a flammable liquid or multiple ignition points, the prosecutor said.
Loosemore said he had gone to gather firewood and returned to find the house engulfed in flames before running to alert neighbours and emergency authorities.
A paramedic who treated him identified a “strong smell” of petrol while another observed blood on his face, hands and shirt, the jury was told.
Loosemore said he had put petrol in the lawnmower that afternoon, but also told doctors he had a poor memory because he had been drinking and was taking painkillers after his dental visit.
Defence barrister Dave Cronin urged the jury to consider the circumstances around the situation.
He asked them to be cognisant of the length of time Loosemore was away from the house, his rush in rural bushland to alert neighbours potentially explaining scratches, and Vermont had been taking anti-depressants at the time.
The trial continues.
Lead image: Nine
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