‘Heartless’: Timothy Loosemore jailed for killing Maree Vermont who rejected him

A heartless killer has been jailed for 17 years for fatally assaulting a woman who rejected him and then setting fire to her beloved home.

Victorian Supreme Court Justice Andrew Tinney denounced Timothy Loosemore’s callous disregard for Maree Vermont as he handed down his sentence on Friday afternoon.

Loosemore, 63, has still shown no remorse for his crimes , claiming to a jury that he did not harm Vermont or set fire to her Goldie property, 70km north of Melbourne .

But he was found guilty of manslaughter in June, with jurors convinced he fatally assaulted the 60-year-old mother-of-three on the evening of August 5, 2023.

He then set alight the home, which Vermont had spent decades building.

“Your purpose in doing all of this was to destroy the house and the body of Vermont in order to cover up your crime,” Justice Tinney said in sentencing.

Loosemore had met Vermont in March 2023 when she provided him a room in exchange for work on her property.

The pair had a brief intimate relationship but five days before her death she told him she did not want it to continue.

Justice Tinney said it was clear Loosemore had killed Vermont because he was angry and resentful that she did not reciprocate his feelings.

“She was a person who had shown you considerable kindness,” the judge said.

Loosemore had shown no remorse and instead demonstrated an “unnerving lack of concern” for Vermont in the immediate aftermath, Justice Tinney said.

The judge noted he lied repeatedly to neighbours, police and paramedics, and even to his psychologist when he claimed he could not remember the night of the manslaughter.

“At all times you have known and remembered precisely what you did,” Justice Tinney said.

“But you chose not to tell the truth because it would reveal your crime.”