Three found dead after rural shooting and siege near Logan in Victoria’s northwest
UPDATE: A MAN charged with the murder of his three neighbours in country Victoria had been embroiled in long-running disputes with them, it has emerged.
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UPDATE: A MAN charged with the murder of his three neighbours in country Victoria had been embroiled in long-running disputes with them and complained to police a month ago, it has emerged.
Ian Jamieson, 63, was remanded in custody after facing an out-of-court sessions hearing in Bendigo last night.
He was charged with the murder of Peter Lockhart, 78, Mary Lockhart, 75, and Greg Holmes, 48, on Wednesday.
Detective Sen-Constable Jason Wallace said Mr Jamieson, who was arrested after a four-hour siege near Wedderburn, northwest of Bendigo, “made full admissions” in the deaths of the three victims during a police interview.
Mr Jamieson had called triple-0 on Wednesday night and “said he had killed three people”, the court heard.
Officers found Mr Holmes’ body in a paddock and returned when they heard shots fired further up the road, forcing them to lock down the area and call for back-up.
Police combed the crime scene yesterday. They also searched Mr Jamieson’s house and seized several large firearms, including a 12-gauge shotgun. Police said all the guns were registered and compliant.
Detective Supt Peter De Santo said the triple homicide was the result of “a minor neighbourhood dispute that has escalated in tragic circumstances”.
Friends of both families said the “hot-headed” men fought over petty issues including the use of a track, which ran past Jamieson’s property and linked Mr Holmes’ house property to the nearby Wedderburn-Logan road.
Mr Jamieson also was allegedly angered by the dust blown from Mr Holmes’ property when he worked on a paddock near his home.
One Wedderburn resident, who did not want to be named, said that Mr Jamieson spoke to local police about a month ago because he felt he was being harassed by his neighbours.
“The cops did nothing,” the resident said.
A police spokesman said they were not yet aware of a complaint being made but it would form part of the investigation.
Phil Carey, a friend of both Mr Jamieson and Mr Lockhart, said they were “fairly reasonable fellas”.
“But they both could’ve been hotheads,” he said.
“I’m surprised that it happened ... But it could have been ongoing for some time. Things can really needle away at you. It’s sad.”
Other residents of Wedderburn — where Mr Lockhart’s family lived for several generations — said the neighbours had argued for the last three or four years.
“I’m shocked but I’m not surprised. I feared something would happen,” one elderly resident said.
But the pair had been neighbourly in earlier times with Mr Lockhart once helping Mr Jamieson to rebuild his home after a fire, neighbours said.
Supt De Santo said it was “very hard to fathom how this has all unfolded”.
“There is some history of minor disputes in the past, and when I say minor, at the very bottom end of disputes between neighbours,” he said.
Mr Lockhart, a retired sheep farmer, was president of the Wedderburn Historical Engine and Machinery Society for about eight years until June when a relative took over.
Geoff Maxwell, a club colleague, said Mr Lockhart had been a member since retiring and had done a good job as president.
But he said the Lockhart family “was having a really bad time”, with illness striking his two brothers, who also live in Wedderburn.
