A woman shared with her family and friends that her British house guest had grown “clingy” and she was not interested in a relationship with him, just weeks before he reportedly killed her and set her home on fire.
Maree Vermont was found dead in her burnt-out home in the rural Victorian town of Goldie in the Macedon Ranges on August 5, 2023.
Timothy Loosemore, who had been staying as an Airbnb guest after arriving from the UK in 2022, has pleaded not guilty to her murder and arson.
Before her death, Adams said her daughter had been looking forward to a holiday in Vietnam.
Vermont’s younger brother Paul Adams said she told him she didn’t have “any affection” for Loosemore.
“She was clear she wanted her own life and wanted to get on with her life,” Paul told the court.
Jacqueline Burns, who knew Vermont for more than 15 years and was her former sister-in-law, first saw Loosemore at Vermont’s property in March 2023.
Loosemore had stayed at the home for about six weeks before travelling to Cairns for two weeks and returning.
The pair had sex once before he went to Cairns, but Vermont told her friend it was “unsuccessful” and that she “didn’t like it”.
“She didn’t have any feelings towards him. It was just sex,” Burns told the court.
After his return from Queensland, Vermont confided in her friend about how the traveller was “always there” and that she “doesn’t get a break”.
Burns said Vermont had told Loosemore he was to leave by August but that he was always polite and never nasty.
Prosecutors claim that Loosemore either murdered Vermont and then ignited the house, or attacked her and attempted to hide the assault by starting the fire.
She was found with such severe burns that her legs and arms were reduced to fragments.
