After Maree Vermont’s Airbnb was consumed by fire and her remains were left so badly burned they could not be identified, the man staying in her home raised a question with police that investigators did not expect.
Only hours before, flames had torn through Ms Vermont’s property. Timothy Loosemore, a 62-year-old Englishman, told authorities he had survived because he had been away from the house, taking “a walk to gather firewood”.
Loosemore had been renting one of the spare rooms at Ms Vermont’s home in Goldie, about 70km north of Melbourne, through Airbnb.
The house was more than just a rental listing for the 60-year-old. A surveyor by profession, Ms Vermont had spent around 30 years carefully creating the property with her former husband, and it was regarded as her pride and joy.
But Loosemore was not merely a short-term guest. The court heard he had previously been involved in a “casual relationship” with Ms Vermont — and had hoped it would become something more serious.
After the blaze, he was taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital, and as he was being treated by medical staff, police arrived to quiz him about the tragedy.
But Loosemore had some questions of his own, and his first was not about the fate of Ms Vermont – but her dog Maxie.
‘Who’s looking after Maxie?’ Loosemore asked, as captured in footage from the officer’s body-worn camera, and played back in court.
When Maree Vermont’s Airbnb went up in flames, burning her body beyond recognition, her house guest had a peculiar question for police
Englishman Timothy Loosemore, 62, had been staying with Ms Vermont in one of her spare rooms as her Airbnb guest
‘I don’t know,’ the officer replied. ‘Who normally looks after him?’
‘Normally Maree,’ Loosemore said. ‘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?’
It was only then that Loosemore asked: ‘Is Maree all right? Is she?’
The court heard Loosemore even expressed more concern for his bicycle than the woman he had killed and may even have burnt alive.
Pictures from the crime scene reveal a sinister kitchen knife blackened with soot among the charred remains inside the cottage where Ms Vermont died.
Forensics later found DNA traces on Ms Vermont’s blood on Loosemore’s clothes. Everything inside, including Ms Vermont’s body, was burnt beyond recognition.
Nearby lay fuel canisters he was suspected of using to trigger the fatal blaze.
Her ornate iron spiral staircase could also be seen lying on the ground, twisted out of shape by the intense heat of the inferno.
Maree Vermont’s Goldie home, 70km north of Melbourne , had been her pride and joy and meticulously built by her with her ex-husband over three decades
Pictures from the crime scene reveal a sinister kitchen knife blackened with soot among the charred remains inside the cottage where Ms Vermont died
Nearby lay fuel canisters he was suspected to have used to trigger the fatal blaze
During a pre-sentence hearing on Thursday, Supreme Court of Victoria Justice Andrew Tinney said Loosemore showed little concern in the hours after Ms Vermont’s death.
‘His only concern was for himself and his bicycle and his other possessions,’ he said. ‘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.’
The impact of that fire on Ms Vermont’s body made it impossible for forensic experts to determine her cause of death.
As a result, two Supreme Court of Victoria juries were unable to conclude she had been murdered.
Instead, Loosemore will be sentenced on Friday for Ms Vermont’s manslaughter.
Crown prosecutor Mark Gibson, KC, told the jury Loosemore ‘snapped’ when his pleas for an intimate relationship were repeatedly rejected by Ms Vermont, after an earlier ‘brief sexual dalliance’.
Mr Gibson said Loosemore violently assaulted Ms Vermont before he covered up the crime by starting the fire.
Her ornate iron spiral staircase could also be seen lying on the ground, twisted out of shape by the intense heat of the inferno
‘He did something horrific to Maree Vermont,’ he told the court. ‘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.’
Ms Vermont’s blood was later found all over Loosemore’s pants and T-shirt, and the jury heard Ms Vermont had fought desperately for her life.
RELATED: Naomi Osaka’s Bold US Open Outfit Sparks Fan Mockery Online
Her body was found face down in the living room, where three kitchen knives were also discovered.
She never left the house despite five easily accessible exits – and even the dog Maxie escaped.
The jury heard the severity of the inferno was consistent with flammable liquid having been spread, with petrol components detected on a mat and blanket in the house.
Moderately evaporated petrol was also found on Loosemore’s clothing and shoes.
‘It’s a very interesting situation. There were those knives there and there is the fact that she bled profusely,’ Justice Tinney noted.
‘Obviously when she’s close to him because it got on his clothing.
‘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.’
Timothy Loosemore, 62, appeared in the Supreme Court of Victoria for a pre-sentence hearing on Thursday. He was spotted carrying a bible
Maree Vermont had rejected Loosemore’s repeated advances
The DNA blood evidence was not shown to the first jury – which deliberated its verdict for three weeks before they were discharged – because of a ‘workload issue’ at Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine.
The second jury heard Loosemore’s lucid recollections of what happened that night in the hours immediately after the fire.
But the court also heard he later suffered near-total amnesia when questioned by Homicide Squad detectives and forensic doctors.
In the aftermath of the fire, Loosemore gave several accounts of events in conversations with neighbours, paramedics, police and a doctor.
He told them he had briefly left the house and returned to find it ablaze.
He told neighbour Peter Greenham he had a ‘small argument’ with Ms Vermont, that he went outside to get some wood, and when he came back the fire was too hot to handle.
Another neighbour, Kynan Share, was given a similar story before Loosemore added: ‘When I’ve come back, the whole place went up.’
But he claimed to another neighbour he had been upstairs asleep, got up to put wood on the fire, and found the house fully alight on his return.
Defence barrister Christopher Farrington told the court Loosemore had been consistent that he had ‘no memory of what took place’, which is why he took no responsibility or showed remorse.
‘Isn’t it all much more consistent with a person who has simply been refusing to tell the truth about what occurred?’ the judge asked Mr Farrington.
Crime scene photos show the devastation left by the fire on Ms Vermont’s cherished home
Mr Farrington told the court Loosemore was born in Somerset in the United Kingdom and raised in a small rural farming community.
He worked in road construction before establishing his own civil construction business, which operated for about 11 years and at times involved more than 40 workers on roads and bridges.
Changes in UK employment law led to the business being wound up and he later worked as a sole operator.
The court heard Loosemore had been married twice, with three children from his second marriage, who now live in the UK.
The family lived in Western Australia around 2004-2007 and became Australian citizens before later returning to the UK.
Loosemore had not been in full-time employment since about 2004, living off investments from the sale of his successful business.
In September 2022, he returned to Australia with his son for a cycling trip around the country.
After his son left, Loosemore continued alone, staying at farmstay properties where he performed work in exchange for board and food, and Ms Vermont’s property was one of those.
The court heard he had no prior criminal history and people who knew him before the incident, including some of Ms Vermont’s friends and family, described him as polite, calm and helpful.
On Thursday, Ms Vermont’s loved ones packed the court to confront Loosemore and express the impact his actions had on their lives.
Outside court, her three sons described their mother as a very peaceful, loving and caring person.
‘It’s a very hard day,’ Darcy Vermont told reporters.
‘But it’s bringing some sense of closure to be able to get up in court and have our voices heard.’