The New South Wales deputy coroner has declared the death of Janice Garrett a homicide, confirming the 76-year-old disabled woman died as a result of a fire that was deliberately lit by her partner in 2018.
The coronial findings shed new light on the gruesome and premeditated plan by Ronald Reeves to kill Ms Garrett, which included placing gas bottles and tins of fuel around the home.
Reeves, who was 70, was charged with murder but never faced trial after dying in prison while on remand in 2019.
The pair had been living together for about six years in Ms Garrett's family home in Raymond Terrace, north of Newcastle, but the relationship was described in the findings as "tumultuous" and "characterised by disagreement and argument".
Reeves was said to have been verbally abusive towards Ms Garrett and she had spoken of wanting him out of the home.
The relationship ended in April 2019 and Reeves moved out in July, but three days later he was spotted by a neighbour returning to the home just after midnight.
"About two minutes later the neighbour … saw flames coming from the side of Janice's house and then heard a loud 'boom' sound," said the findings.
As the home became engulfed in flames, neighbours reported hearing multiple and successive loud explosions.
Gas bottles placed in the home
Ms Garrett suffered from severe respiratory illness and required mobility assistance and an oxygen converter to help her breathe.
The coronial findings said she lived mostly in the front living room of the house, where she slept in a reclining chair as she was not able to lie down in bed.
It was in this front room where her body was ultimately found and where Reeves had placed a 9-kilogram gas bottle.
NSW Fire and Rescue found two more gas bottles in the bedrooms, as well as three metal fuel containers at the rear of the home and an additional gas bottle and fuel container in Ms Garrett's car that was parked in the carport.
Police later obtained records from a camping store that confirmed Reeves had recently purchased and filled a 9kg gas container.
An autopsy of Ms Garrett found she died from the effects of the fire and Magistrate Brett Shields ruled the fire was deliberately lit by Reeves in an act of homicide.
A separate coronial inquest into Reeves' death in prison failed to find a precise cause, but said extensive heart disease, a possible infection, and the various drugs in his system could have been underlying factors.
Ms Garrett was said to have maintained a close relationship with her three children whom she had with her late husband David Garrett.
