{"id":292380,"date":"2025-11-18T10:43:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T10:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/292380\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T10:43:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T10:43:10","slug":"callous-killer-jailed-for-ex-girlfriends-brutal-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/292380\/","title":{"rendered":"Callous killer jailed for ex-girlfriend’s brutal murder"},"content":{"rendered":"

A callous murderer<\/a> who strangled his ex-girlfriend, destroyed her remains and then tried to stage her death as a suicide has been jailed for 28 years.<\/p>\n

Lachlan Young, 23, ignored a packed Ballarat courtroom, instead staring straight ahead as Victorian Supreme Court Justice James Elliott sentenced him today.<\/p>\n

It was eight days into his trial before Young finally admitted he murdered Hannah McGuire on April 5, 2024 in a home they owned together at Sebastopol, 120km northwest of Melbourne.<\/p>\n

\"KillerAn artist impression of killer Lachlan Young during a court appearance. (Paul Tyquin)<\/p>\n

Young told prosecutors they had an argument and he followed McGuire into the bathroom, where he pushed her onto the ground and strangled her.<\/p>\n

He then shoved her body into the footwell of her Mitsubishi Triton, drove it to remote bushland in nearby Scarsdale and set the vehicle alight.<\/p>\n

As he left the scene, Young used McGuire’s phone to send messages to her mother Debbie, claiming she was going to take her life.<\/p>\n

He then transferred $2000 from McGuire’s bank account to her mother and $5000 to himself.<\/p>\n

Young’s steps to deflect blame and stage the victim’s murder as a suicide were cold and calculated, Justice Elliott said.<\/p>\n

“They were utterly disrespectful to the memory of Hannah McGuire,” the judge said.<\/p>\n

Justice Elliott noted the brutal murder followed months of abusive, intimidatory and domineering behaviour from Young towards McGuire.<\/p>\n

\"HeHannah McGuire was killed by her former boyfriend on April 5, 2024. (Nine)<\/p>\n

She had taken out intervention orders against the 23-year-old and made complaints to the police but he refused to accept she wanted to separate, the judge said.<\/p>\n

“There is no doubt you acted with a sense of entitlement,” he said.<\/p>\n

“This is another case of a man using violence and his superior strength to murder a vulnerable woman who trusted him.”<\/p>\n

For sentencing purposes, Justice Elliott accepted Young did not hold an intention to kill McGuire when he strangled her, rather he had intended to cause really serious injury.<\/p>\n

But the judge found that did not significantly reduce Young’s moral culpability, nor did his age, troubled upbringing and substance abuse issues.<\/p>\n

Justice Elliott accepted he had ultimately pleaded guilty, which warranted some reduction on his sentence, but noted the case still went to trial.<\/p>\n

Besides his plea, there was no real evidence of remorse for killing a vulnerable woman who was loved by so many, the judge said.<\/p>\n

“The level of emotion and heartache you have caused … cannot be overstated,” Justice Elliott said.<\/p>\n

“(McGuire) was obviously a very special, warm, talented, giving and thoughtful person who lived her life with the interests of those around her at the forefront.”<\/p>\n

Hannah’s parents Debbie and Glenn were among the more than 80 people in the courtroom who turned and looked at Young as his 28-year jail term was announced.<\/p>\n

There were gasps of “yes” but Young, dressed in all black, stared straight ahead at the judge.<\/p>\n

He will be eligible for parole after serving 22 years and four months.<\/p>\n

Outside court, Debbie McGuire told reporters she was relieved her daughter’s killer had finally been sentenced.<\/p>\n

“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.<\/p>\n

“We want to express our heartfelt gratitude to our family, friends and the community for their unwavering support over the past 19 months.<\/p>\n

“We could not have made it through without any of you.”<\/p>\n

Readers seeking support can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.<\/p>\n

Help is available from the Men’s Referral Service on 1300 766 491.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A callous murderer who strangled his ex-girlfriend, destroyed her remains and then tried to stage her death as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292381,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-292380","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}