'Heartbreaking': sons confront mum's remorseless killer

Maree Vermont spent more than three decades building her forever home, stone by stone, in central Victoria.

She put her heart and soul into its construction but it was destroyed on August 5, 2023, when her killer tried to cover his tracks.

Timothy Loosemore, 63, had earlier that evening assaulted the 60-year-old mother of three, killing her inside the property she loved so much.

He then set alight the home, which was designed to withstand bushfires, destroying it and Ms Vermont's body inside.

Loosemore claimed to a Victorian Supreme Court jury he did not harm Ms Vermont or set fire to the property in Goldie, 70 kilometres north of Melbourne.

But the jurors rejected his story, finding him guilty of manslaughter in June.

Ms Vermont's loved ones packed the court on Thursday as her killer faced a pre-sentence hearing.

Her son Harrison read aloud a statement, saying Loosemore's actions had been selfish and violent in a space that was so beautiful.

"Maree loved the sun - she herself was a shining light in this world. (Her death) makes the world a little bit darker."

Ms Vermont's brother Paul Adams cried as he detailed his overwhelming sense of loss.

"She brought energy and warmth to the people around her," Mr Adams said.

Loosemore met Ms 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.

Loosemore's barrister Chris Farrington accepted his client killed Ms Vermont in response to the rejection and his decision to set fire to the home was an aggravating feature of the manslaughter.