Lachlan Young jailed for 28 years over ex-girlfriend Hannah McGuire’s murder
A tradie who murdered his ex-girlfriend and tried to cover it up as a suicide has learnt his fate in front of almost 100 of her family and friends.
A jealous, controlling and abusive tradie who murdered his ex-girlfriend after she ended their relationship has been jailed to gasps of “yes” in court.
Lachlan Young, 23, strangled Hannah McGuire, 23, in the home they once shared in the early hours of April 5 last year after attacking her during an argument about the end of their relationship.
With the assistance of an unwitting friend, who has not been charged with any wrongdoing, he then drove her body in her own car to isolated bushland and torched the vehicle.
Staging her death as a suicide, Young then sent a series of messages to McGuire’s mother, Debbie McGuire, and to himself.
“I tried to go back but he doesn’t want anything to do with me, I made the wrong choice and I’ve thrown away everything,” one message to Mrs McGuire reads.
Young pleaded guilty to McGuire’s murder eight days into a Supreme Court trial before a jury on July 18.
He had previously offered to plead guilty to manslaughter, an offer flatly rejected by prosecutors in the case.
Young returned to court in Ballarat on Tuesday and Justice James Elliott handed down a sentence of 28 years in prison.
Several gasps and people exclaiming “yes” were heard as the sentence was read out.
“You brutally murdered Ms McGuire in the home she lived with you … a place where, as a young woman, she was entitled to feel safe,” the judge said.
Close to 100 people packed the court, with more than a dozen standing at the back of the room.
Young was dressed entirely in black, tapping his leg nervously as he waited for the proceedings to begin.
He showed little reaction as details of his “abhorrent” treatment of McGuire in their relationship and after her death were read out, shifting regularly in his seat and glancing around the room.
McGuire’s parents, Debbie and Glenn McGuire, were also dressed in black, leaning together in the front row of the public gallery – her father at times dabbing at his eyes with a tissue.
Justice Elliott told the court Young displayed “all the hallmarks of an abusive and domineering relationship”.
“This case is yet another example of a male using violence and his superior strength to murder a vulnerable woman who trusted him,” he said.
Justice Elliott said the pair’s relationship had broken down in early 2024, with Young’s escalating emotional and physical abuse serving as the “last straw” for McGuire.
“You did not make this easier for her, quite the opposite,” the judge said.
In the weeks before her murder, Young’s intimidation and violence heightened, with a former co-worker alleging Young asked him to help in a plot to “roofie” and scare his ex so she wouldn’t take their shared home.
Justice Elliott said Young’s level of self-interest, callous state of mind and complete lack of remorse were perhaps best exemplified by a comment made to his cousin at a wake in the days after her death.
The cousin recalled that Young used to call McGuire “beautiful and hot”. “You looked her in the eye and said ‘well, she’s hot now, isn’t she’,” Justice Elliott said to gasps in the courtroom.
The judge said Young’s actions to avoid accountability, including burning McGuire’s body and staging a suicide, were “utterly disrespectful to the memory of Hannah McGuire and the suffering her family were going through”.
“The level of emotion and heartache that you have caused to Hannah’s family, to Hannah’s friends, to Hannah’s work colleagues, and to the communities of Ballarat and Clunes more generally cannot be overstated” he said.
“She was obviously a very special, warm, talented, giving and thoughtful person who lived her life with the interests of others around her at the forefront.”
Standing with her husband outside court, Mrs McGuire said her family were relieved at the sentence.
“While nothing can bring back what we’ve lost or erase the pain we continue to carry, today’s outcome is an important step in our journey towards healing,” she said.
“We want to express our heartfelt gratitude to our family, friends and community for their unwavering support over the past 19 months – we could not have made it through without each other.
“We would also like to thank everyone involved in the investigation and judicial process, particularly Detective Senior Constable James Allen and senior Crown prosecutor Kristie Churchill. Their professionalism, dedication and compassion have meant a great deal to us.
“As you can appreciate, this has been an incredibly difficult ordeal. We now need time together as a family to process the result. We kindly ask for privacy as we continue to rebuild our lives and we won’t take any further questions at this time.”
Addressing the court last month, Ms Churchill described Young’s offending as a “deliberate and intentional murder”, followed by calculated efforts to conceal his involvement “motivated by male entitlement and rage”.
“Women are entitled to have and to end relationships without it resulting in their deaths,” she said.
“Ms McGuire was a young woman whose life was taken because the offender couldn’t, or wouldn’t, allow her to live a life beyond his relationship with her.”
Young’s barrister, Glenn Casement, had urged Justice Elliott to take into account his client’s young age, guilty plea, difficult upbringing and prospects of rehabilitation when considering his sentence.
“This was a young man who was troubled, and he’s committed an awful crime, there’s no doubt about that,” he said.
Addressing Young’s pre-sentence hearing, Mrs McGuire described her daughter as her best friend, greatest joy and “everything the accused could never be”.
“While I commend people who can offer forgiveness, unfortunately for the accused I am not one of them,” she said.
“The accused’s actions did not just take Hannah’s life, they shattered mine … I request justice be carried out to its greatest extent.”
Young will be eligible for parole after serving 22 years and four months.
Originally published as Lachlan Young jailed for 28 years over ex-girlfriend Hannah McGuire’s murder
