Brutal killer could spend rest of his life behind bars
A remorseless killer who doused an innocent man in petrol and set him alight will likely spend the rest of his years behind bars for the brutal attack.
Victorian Supreme Court Justice Andrew Tinney on Thursday spared Stuart Lee, 65, a life sentence for the "shocking and heartless" murder of Colin Bainbridge.
But he was still jailed for 35 years and will be close to 90 before he is eligible for parole.
"Mr Bainbridge was an entirely innocent and blameless man who provided no provocation to you for your murderous attack on him," Justice Tinney said in sentencing.
"The pain and anguish you caused ... is incalculable."
Mr Bainbridge had been felling trees in a friend's backyard in March 2023 when, without any instigation, Lee in the neighbouring property yelled at him to "f*** off".
Mr Bainbridge said the same thing in response and Lee rushed off to call the police.
After five calls went unanswered, Lee finally told an officer he would go and murder his neighbours if they did not come.
The 65-year-old then went into his shed, poured petrol from a jerry can into a blue bucket and grabbed a lighter from inside the house.
Lee went into the backyard, climbed a fence and poured the petrol over Mr Bainbridge before setting him on fire.
Mr Bainbridge's son Joshua, who was working nearby, rushed over and helped put out the flames with a hose.
He was airlifted to The Alfred hospital with burns to 81 per cent of his body and died later that evening.
In sentencing Lee on Thursday, Justice Tinney accepted the 65-year-old had a personality disorder which made him inexplicably suspicious of his neighbours.
That disorder explained Lee's thinking but the judge rejected defence claims Lee was genuinely frightened of Mr Bainbridge.
"I do not accept that you were ever in fear," Justice Tinney said.
"Your indignant anger overcame your clear understanding of the wrongfulness of your actions and you committed murder."
Lee claimed to a psychiatrist that Mr Bainbridge had threatened him with a chainsaw after he was caught trespassing on Lee's property.
But Justice Tinney determined that story was entirely fabricated to either make Lee's conduct sound more understandable or to make the killer feel better.
It was more likely that Lee was frustrated with the noise the Bainbridges were making felling trees and he reacted in anger, the judge said.
"You had ample opportunity to reflect upon your intended course," Justice Tinney said.
"You chose not to do so."
Justice Tinney found Lee's moral culpability was high despite his personality disorder because he was not psychotic and he knew the consequences of his action.
Deterrence was key in sentencing because Lee had previously been charged with threatening to kill a neighbour by setting him on fire, Justice Tinney said.
Lee's prospects of rehabilitation were also very poor given his lack of remorse and inability to feel empathy as a result of his personality disorder, the judge said.
If Lee had not pleaded guilty before trial, Justice Tinney said he would have sentenced the 65-year-old to life behind bars.
A remorseless killer who doused an innocent man in petrol and set him alight will likely spend the rest of his years behind bars for the brutal attack.
Victorian Supreme Court Justice Andrew Tinney on Thursday spared Stuart Lee, 65, a life sentence for the "shocking and heartless" murder of Colin Bainbridge.
But he was still jailed for 35 years and will be close to 90 before he is eligible for parole.
"Mr Bainbridge was an entirely innocent and blameless man who provided no provocation to you for your murderous attack on him," Justice Tinney said in sentencing.
"The pain and anguish you caused ... is incalculable."
Mr Bainbridge had been felling trees in a friend's backyard in March 2023 when, without any instigation, Lee in the neighbouring property yelled at him to "f*** off".
Mr Bainbridge said the same thing in response and Lee rushed off to call the police.
After five calls went unanswered, Lee finally told an officer he would go and murder his neighbours if they did not come.
The 65-year-old then went into his shed, poured petrol from a jerry can into a blue bucket and grabbed a lighter from inside the house.
Lee went into the backyard, climbed a fence and poured the petrol over Mr Bainbridge before setting him on fire.
Mr Bainbridge's son Joshua, who was working nearby, rushed over and helped put out the flames with a hose.
He was airlifted to The Alfred hospital with burns to 81 per cent of his body and died later that evening.
In sentencing Lee on Thursday, Justice Tinney accepted the 65-year-old had a personality disorder which made him inexplicably suspicious of his neighbours.
That disorder explained Lee's thinking but the judge rejected defence claims Lee was genuinely frightened of Mr Bainbridge.
"I do not accept that you were ever in fear," Justice Tinney said.
"Your indignant anger overcame your clear understanding of the wrongfulness of your actions and you committed murder."
Lee claimed to a psychiatrist that Mr Bainbridge had threatened him with a chainsaw after he was caught trespassing on Lee's property.
But Justice Tinney determined that story was entirely fabricated to either make Lee's conduct sound more understandable or to make the killer feel better.
It was more likely that Lee was frustrated with the noise the Bainbridges were making felling trees and he reacted in anger, the judge said.
"You had ample opportunity to reflect upon your intended course," Justice Tinney said.
"You chose not to do so."
Justice Tinney found Lee's moral culpability was high despite his personality disorder because he was not psychotic and he knew the consequences of his action.
Deterrence was key in sentencing because Lee had previously been charged with threatening to kill a neighbour by setting him on fire, Justice Tinney said.
Lee's prospects of rehabilitation were also very poor given his lack of remorse and inability to feel empathy as a result of his personality disorder, the judge said.
If Lee had not pleaded guilty before trial, Justice Tinney said he would have sentenced the 65-year-old to life behind bars.
A remorseless killer who doused an innocent man in petrol and set him alight will likely spend the rest of his years behind bars for the brutal attack.
Victorian Supreme Court Justice Andrew Tinney on Thursday spared Stuart Lee, 65, a life sentence for the "shocking and heartless" murder of Colin Bainbridge.
But he was still jailed for 35 years and will be close to 90 before he is eligible for parole.
"Mr Bainbridge was an entirely innocent and blameless man who provided no provocation to you for your murderous attack on him," Justice Tinney said in sentencing.
"The pain and anguish you caused ... is incalculable."
Mr Bainbridge had been felling trees in a friend's backyard in March 2023 when, without any instigation, Lee in the neighbouring property yelled at him to "f*** off".
Mr Bainbridge said the same thing in response and Lee rushed off to call the police.
After five calls went unanswered, Lee finally told an officer he would go and murder his neighbours if they did not come.
The 65-year-old then went into his shed, poured petrol from a jerry can into a blue bucket and grabbed a lighter from inside the house.
Lee went into the backyard, climbed a fence and poured the petrol over Mr Bainbridge before setting him on fire.
Mr Bainbridge's son Joshua, who was working nearby, rushed over and helped put out the flames with a hose.
He was airlifted to The Alfred hospital with burns to 81 per cent of his body and died later that evening.
In sentencing Lee on Thursday, Justice Tinney accepted the 65-year-old had a personality disorder which made him inexplicably suspicious of his neighbours.
That disorder explained Lee's thinking but the judge rejected defence claims Lee was genuinely frightened of Mr Bainbridge.
"I do not accept that you were ever in fear," Justice Tinney said.
"Your indignant anger overcame your clear understanding of the wrongfulness of your actions and you committed murder."
Lee claimed to a psychiatrist that Mr Bainbridge had threatened him with a chainsaw after he was caught trespassing on Lee's property.
But Justice Tinney determined that story was entirely fabricated to either make Lee's conduct sound more understandable or to make the killer feel better.
It was more likely that Lee was frustrated with the noise the Bainbridges were making felling trees and he reacted in anger, the judge said.
"You had ample opportunity to reflect upon your intended course," Justice Tinney said.
"You chose not to do so."
Justice Tinney found Lee's moral culpability was high despite his personality disorder because he was not psychotic and he knew the consequences of his action.
Deterrence was key in sentencing because Lee had previously been charged with threatening to kill a neighbour by setting him on fire, Justice Tinney said.
Lee's prospects of rehabilitation were also very poor given his lack of remorse and inability to feel empathy as a result of his personality disorder, the judge said.
If Lee had not pleaded guilty before trial, Justice Tinney said he would have sentenced the 65-year-old to life behind bars.
A remorseless killer who doused an innocent man in petrol and set him alight will likely spend the rest of his years behind bars for the brutal attack.
Victorian Supreme Court Justice Andrew Tinney on Thursday spared Stuart Lee, 65, a life sentence for the "shocking and heartless" murder of Colin Bainbridge.
But he was still jailed for 35 years and will be close to 90 before he is eligible for parole.
"Mr Bainbridge was an entirely innocent and blameless man who provided no provocation to you for your murderous attack on him," Justice Tinney said in sentencing.
"The pain and anguish you caused ... is incalculable."
Mr Bainbridge had been felling trees in a friend's backyard in March 2023 when, without any instigation, Lee in the neighbouring property yelled at him to "f*** off".
Mr Bainbridge said the same thing in response and Lee rushed off to call the police.
After five calls went unanswered, Lee finally told an officer he would go and murder his neighbours if they did not come.
The 65-year-old then went into his shed, poured petrol from a jerry can into a blue bucket and grabbed a lighter from inside the house.
Lee went into the backyard, climbed a fence and poured the petrol over Mr Bainbridge before setting him on fire.
Mr Bainbridge's son Joshua, who was working nearby, rushed over and helped put out the flames with a hose.
He was airlifted to The Alfred hospital with burns to 81 per cent of his body and died later that evening.
In sentencing Lee on Thursday, Justice Tinney accepted the 65-year-old had a personality disorder which made him inexplicably suspicious of his neighbours.
That disorder explained Lee's thinking but the judge rejected defence claims Lee was genuinely frightened of Mr Bainbridge.
"I do not accept that you were ever in fear," Justice Tinney said.
"Your indignant anger overcame your clear understanding of the wrongfulness of your actions and you committed murder."
Lee claimed to a psychiatrist that Mr Bainbridge had threatened him with a chainsaw after he was caught trespassing on Lee's property.
But Justice Tinney determined that story was entirely fabricated to either make Lee's conduct sound more understandable or to make the killer feel better.
It was more likely that Lee was frustrated with the noise the Bainbridges were making felling trees and he reacted in anger, the judge said.
"You had ample opportunity to reflect upon your intended course," Justice Tinney said.
"You chose not to do so."
Justice Tinney found Lee's moral culpability was high despite his personality disorder because he was not psychotic and he knew the consequences of his action.
Deterrence was key in sentencing because Lee had previously been charged with threatening to kill a neighbour by setting him on fire, Justice Tinney said.
Lee's prospects of rehabilitation were also very poor given his lack of remorse and inability to feel empathy as a result of his personality disorder, the judge said.
If Lee had not pleaded guilty before trial, Justice Tinney said he would have sentenced the 65-year-old to life behind bars.
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"I'll be completing my charge prior to lunchtime on Monday, at which point we'll have the ballot and away you go, so to speak." Fourteen jurors will be balloted down to 12, who will be tasked with deciding whether Patterson is guilty or not guilty of each of the charges. The judge reminded the jury that they will be sequestered at the end of each day during their deliberations. The trial will resume on Friday, when Justice Beale will continue to summarise the case and explain legal directions, known as the charge. A judge has urged jurors to "disregard" prosecution claims that Erin Patterson's children would have become sick from eating meat leftover from toxic beef Wellingtons. Patterson, 50, has claimed she scraped off the mushroom paste and pastry from individual beef Wellington leftovers and served the meat to her two kids the next day. But prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC argued in her closing address that the accused triple-murderer had lied about this "to help cover her tracks". "The only reason the accused would tell such a lie was because she knew she had included death cap mushrooms in the beef Wellingtons, eaten by the lunch guests," she said. "And thought that if she said she had also fed it to her children, it would deflect any suspicion that she deliberately did so. "People would more readily believe that this was all a shocking accident if she'd given the same food to her beloved children." The two Patterson children were assessed at hospital after eating the leftovers but did not become sick or suffer any poisoning symptoms. Dr Rogers argued the evidence "strongly suggests" that if the children had eaten the leftover meat they would have "at least experienced some symptoms". However, Justice Christopher Beale on Thursday told the jury there was no expert evidence during the trial to test whether the children would have suffered any symptoms. "You have no evidence as to whether that would be the case and so I direct you to disregard that argument," he said. "You would be speculating if you were to go down that path." The triple-murder trial, which began at the end of April, has reached week nine in the regional Victorian town of Morwell. Patterson, 50 has pleaded not guilty to three murders and one attempted murder over serving her estranged husband's family death cap mushroom-laced beef Wellingtons. Her former in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, all died in hospital days after eating the lunch prepared by Patterson on July 29, 2023. Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson became unwell but was the only lunch guest to survive. Patterson claims the lunch was a terrible accident and she did not intend to poison her guests. Earlier, the judge informed jurors they would not be sent away to deliberate until Monday, bringing the trial into week 10. "We will be stopping, as we normally do, at one-o'clock tomorrow," Justice Beale said on Thursday morning. "You'll be able to go home for the weekend. "I'll be completing my charge prior to lunchtime on Monday, at which point we'll have the ballot and away you go, so to speak." Fourteen jurors will be balloted down to 12, who will be tasked with deciding whether Patterson is guilty or not guilty of each of the charges. The judge reminded the jury that they will be sequestered at the end of each day during their deliberations. The trial will resume on Friday, when Justice Beale will continue to summarise the case and explain legal directions, known as the charge. A judge has urged jurors to "disregard" prosecution claims that Erin Patterson's children would have become sick from eating meat leftover from toxic beef Wellingtons. Patterson, 50, has claimed she scraped off the mushroom paste and pastry from individual beef Wellington leftovers and served the meat to her two kids the next day. But prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC argued in her closing address that the accused triple-murderer had lied about this "to help cover her tracks". "The only reason the accused would tell such a lie was because she knew she had included death cap mushrooms in the beef Wellingtons, eaten by the lunch guests," she said. "And thought that if she said she had also fed it to her children, it would deflect any suspicion that she deliberately did so. "People would more readily believe that this was all a shocking accident if she'd given the same food to her beloved children." The two Patterson children were assessed at hospital after eating the leftovers but did not become sick or suffer any poisoning symptoms. Dr Rogers argued the evidence "strongly suggests" that if the children had eaten the leftover meat they would have "at least experienced some symptoms". However, Justice Christopher Beale on Thursday told the jury there was no expert evidence during the trial to test whether the children would have suffered any symptoms. "You have no evidence as to whether that would be the case and so I direct you to disregard that argument," he said. "You would be speculating if you were to go down that path." The triple-murder trial, which began at the end of April, has reached week nine in the regional Victorian town of Morwell. Patterson, 50 has pleaded not guilty to three murders and one attempted murder over serving her estranged husband's family death cap mushroom-laced beef Wellingtons. Her former in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, all died in hospital days after eating the lunch prepared by Patterson on July 29, 2023. Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson became unwell but was the only lunch guest to survive. Patterson claims the lunch was a terrible accident and she did not intend to poison her guests. Earlier, the judge informed jurors they would not be sent away to deliberate until Monday, bringing the trial into week 10. "We will be stopping, as we normally do, at one-o'clock tomorrow," Justice Beale said on Thursday morning. "You'll be able to go home for the weekend. "I'll be completing my charge prior to lunchtime on Monday, at which point we'll have the ballot and away you go, so to speak." Fourteen jurors will be balloted down to 12, who will be tasked with deciding whether Patterson is guilty or not guilty of each of the charges. The judge reminded the jury that they will be sequestered at the end of each day during their deliberations. The trial will resume on Friday, when Justice Beale will continue to summarise the case and explain legal directions, known as the charge.
