An Airbnb guest convicted of manslaughter over the death of his host failed to ask police whether she was safe after her home went up in flames, a court in Victoria has heard.
Timothy Loosemore, 63, was found guilty in June of killing Maree Vermont, 60, at her property in Goldie, north of Melbourne, in August 2023. He was acquitted of murder and is due to be sentenced next week.
During a pre-sentence hearing, Justice Michael Tinney said Loosemore’s behaviour in hospital after the fire had been captured on police body-worn camera.
“At no time did he ask, ‘have you found her, is she safe’, the only concern was for himself, his bicycle and other possessions,” the judge said.
Loosemore’s barrister, Christopher Farrington, told the Supreme Court that his client had consistently maintained he had no memory of what happened that night. He said Loosemore therefore accepted no responsibility for Ms Vermont’s death and had shown no remorse.
But Justice Tinney said he did not accept that Loosemore had no memory of the events. The judge said the exact mechanism of Ms Vermont’s death remained unknown because her body had been badly damaged in the fire.
Fire treated as aggravating feature
Ms Vermont’s remains were discovered in the ashes of the stone house she had designed and built with her family. The jury heard that the property was destroyed after her death, with prosecutors alleging the fire was intended to conceal what had happened.
Although Loosemore was not charged with arson, Justice Tinney said the destruction of the house could be taken into account as an aggravating feature when determining the sentence.
“It seems to me there’s pretty powerful evidence he must’ve used petrol to set this fire,” he said, questioning how an inferno could have taken hold in a building made largely of stone and solid timber without an accelerant.
Mr Farrington disputed that conclusion, saying the use of petrol had not been proved at trial and that the evidence about the fire was not definitive.
The court heard that blood linked to Ms Vermont was found on Loosemore’s clothing, while he also had injuries to his face. Prosecutors said the pair had been involved in a physical confrontation after Ms Vermont rejected his desire for an intimate relationship.
Loosemore had arrived in Australia from Britain in 2022 and later stayed at Ms Vermont’s home as a farmstay guest. He was the only other person at the property when the fire broke out.
Ms Vermont’s sons told the court that the uncertainty surrounding their mother’s final moments had caused lasting distress. They also described the loss of the hand-built family home and photographs destroyed in the blaze.
Loosemore, who has no previous criminal record and has three adult children in Britain, is expected to return to the Supreme Court for sentencing on Friday, September 11.
