Timothy Loosemore, a 63-year-old British man, has been convicted of manslaughter for killing his Australian Airbnb host, Maree Vermont, 60, before setting her rural Victorian home on fire. When questioned by police shortly after the blaze, his first concern was not for Maree but for her 14-year-old dog, Maxie.
Police questioning and the dog question
Loosemore, originally from Somerset, was taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital after the fire, where officers questioned him. Body-worn camera footage played in court showed his first question was: “Who’s looking after Maxie?” An officer replied, “I don’t know. Who normally looks after him?” Loosemore said: “Normally Maree. He’s 14 years old so he’s got some dental problems so he’s not a well dog … I suppose Maree’s looking after him?” Only afterward did he ask: “Is Maree all right? Is she?”
His behaviour following the blaze was raised during a pre-sentence hearing. Justice Tinney said: “His only concern was for himself and his bicycle and his other possessions. That struck me as being somewhat unnerving. Here he was, a person who claimed to be innocent, who had been involved in a relationship of sorts with Ms Vermont, and he knew that the house was on fire and that she was inside the house.”
Attack and fire
Prosecutors said Loosemore wanted a more serious relationship with Maree and “snapped” after she repeatedly rejected his advances. They said he violently attacked her before setting fire to the property to conceal what had happened. Maree’s blood was found on his trousers and T-shirt, and evidence suggested she fought back. Her body was found face down in the living room, where three kitchen knives were also discovered. The fire was so extensive that forensic experts could not determine her cause of death, leaving jurors unable to convict Loosemore of murder.
Crown prosecutor Mark Gibson, KC, said: “He did something horrific to Maree Vermont. Something he needed to conceal from the world. That something was him physically attacking Maree inside that house during which he killed Maree Vermont. An attack with murderous intent.”
Impact on family and home
Justice Tinney said: “Because he has never told the truth about what occurred, the mechanism of the actual death will remain unclear to everyone other than Mr Loosemore.” The fire destroyed the stone house Maree had spent more than 30 years creating with her then-husband, using salvaged materials. She had recently finished work on its lead-light window trims. Her son Darcy Vermont said: “She adored the house and it was beautiful. She was really proud of her work.”
Loosemore has maintained he cannot remember killing Maree, giving several different accounts of the fire. His barrister Christopher Farrington told the court he had consistently maintained he had “no memory of what took place.” Justice Tinney asked: “Isn’t it all much more consistent with a person who has simply been refusing to tell the truth about what occurred?”
Maree’s family described her as peaceful, loving and caring. Her son Darcy said outside court: “It’s a very hard day. But it’s bringing some sense of closure to be able to get up in court and have our voices heard.” Her son Harrison said the loss of family photographs in the fire made reflecting on their mother’s life even more important: “The loss is just devastating, especially to us kids. She was just … she was our mum. She was beautiful.”
