Stuart Rattle ‘lay dead for days’

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Michael O'Neill is charged with murder of partner Stuart Rattle, who was found dead after a suspicious fire at his South Yarra flat on Monday.

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, was found dead in his burnt-out South Yarra home in the early hours of Monday morning.

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

Designer Stuart Rattle on his rural property near Daylesford. Photo: Eamon Gallagher

Mr O'Neill, 47, appeared briefly in court on Thursday to face one charge of murder.

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Dressed in a red shirt, brown cardigan and dark jeans, 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 Mr O'Neill in custody to return to court on June 5.

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Stuart Rattle 'lay dead for days'