Interior designer dead for days before fire: police

Dec. 12, 2013, 11:30 p.m.

Prominent Victorian interior designer Stuart Rattle was killed days before his South Yarra unit was burnt out, police claim.

Prominent Victorian interior designer Stuart Rattle was killed days before his South Yarra unit was burnt out, police claim.

Mr Rattle, who designed the homes of many high-profile Melbourne families and owned Musk Farm near Daylesford, was found dead in his South Yarra home in the early hours of Monday.

But in a charge sheet tendered to Melbourne Magistrates Court, police allege Mr Rattle was murdered by his partner, Michael ONeill, on Wednesday last week.

ONeill, 47, appeared briefly in court yesterday to face one charge of murder.

He did not say anything during his appearance, but wiped his nose with a tissue as he entered the dock flanked by security guards, and appeared as though he had been crying.

Chief magistrate Peter Lauritsen remanded him in custody to return to court on June 5.

ONeill was charged with murder yesterday morning. The charge sheet listed his home suburb as South Yarra.

Firefighters discovered Mr Rattles body after battling a blaze at the two-storey apartment complex in Malvern Road.

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Interior designer dead for days before fire: police