Ian Francis Jamieson pleads guilty to three counts of murder on first day of his Supreme Court trial
IT started as a neighbourly dispute over a dirt track. No one could have imagined it would end with the bloodshed police discovered.
IT started as a neighbourly dispute over a dirt track. No one would ever have imagined it would have ended this way.
Three lives lost, while a fourth changed forever on October 23, 2014 in the Victorian town of Wedderburn, northwest of Bendigo. That day a simmering feud, described by police at the time as a minor dispute, exploded into something much more serious.
Ian Francis Jamieson, 65, was today supposed to stand trial for the murder of his three neighbours Peter Lockhart, 78, Mary Lockhart, 75, and Mary’s son Gregory Holmes, 48. But in a surprise move he pleaded guilty to the charges before the Supreme Court trial got under way.
The first hint that something was wrong came at 8.20pm when police received the first word of gunfire. They were called to the Wedderburn- Logan Rd address where they found the first dead body of the morning. It wasn’t the last.
Greg Holmes was found in a paddock in front of his property and next to the Jamison’s property. It would later emerge that Mr Holmes tried calling police at almost exactly that time, while campers reported hearing someone calling for help.
Soon after those officers heard another series of shots coming from across Logan Rd. They were coming from the home of Mr Holmes parents, Peter and Mary Lockhart.
One body was found on the driveway, another at the back of the house.
The scene was locked down and back-up called for. Eventually the elderly couple’s bodies were found inside shot to death.
By now, with fears mounting of even more deaths, police swarmed the area completely locking down both sets of victim’s homes, although attention soon focused on the neighbour’s home. Jamieson was inside, with his gun, and refused to come out.
For the next four hours he remained holed up inside. Police were able to speak with throughout the time he was in the home and he eventually surrendered.
At a previous court hearing police told of one of the conversations they had with Jamieson, where he allegedly made “full admissions” about what happened.
Detective Sen-Constable Jason Wallace told the court it was Jamieson who called 000 and told the operator “I’ve just killed three people”.
Friends of both families told The Herald Sun the men could both be “hot-headed” and had clashed before over the use of a track.
It ran past Jamieson’s property and linked Mr Holmes’ property to Wedderburn-Logan Rd.
Jamieson earlier offered to plead guilty to manslaughter but the plea was rejected by the Office of Public Prosecutions.
The guilty pleas today came just ahead of jury selection for the triple murder trial.
Phil Carey, a friend of both Mr Jamieson and Mr Lockhart, said the dispute was nothing new. He was still shocked it turned violent.
“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.”
In the days after the killings, Detective Supt Peter 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.”
Paul Holmes brother Gregory Holmes told the Herald Sun today their family was relieved by the guilty verdicts. However the family still couldn’t believe what happened.
“It doesn’t make any sense at all that someone could do something like this over a bit of dust,” Mr Holmes said.