Grieving family of Hannah McGuire is dealt another major blow just days after her alleged murder as her brother Fletcher is jailed

The grieving family of Hannah McGuire has been dealt another blow just days after her body was found in a burning car, with her younger brother jailed. 

Fletcher McGuire, 21, was sentenced to up to four years and five months imprisonment on Thursday, less than a week after his sister was allegedly murdered. 

McGuire and his co-accused, Aiden Gray, also 21, appeared before the County Court in Melbourne over a crime spree in Victoria’s west in September 2022. 

McGuire was handed a non-parole period of three years, with the judge acknowledging the recent death of Ms McGuire, 23.

Ballarat’s local newspaper, The Courier, reported that McGuire had only been out of prison for a week when he and Gray carjacked a 2004 Holden Commodore.

McGuire – who had previously been convicted for aggravated burglary, recklessly causing injury and dangerous driving – and Gray demanded car keys from a man sitting at the Canadian lookout in Ballarat, the court heard. 

In an eerie but unrelated coincidence, the lookout sits near the forest where allegedly murdered mother Samantha Murphy, 51, disappeared during her morning run on February 4, 2024.

During the carjacking, either McGuire or Gray told the Commodore owner ‘I will stab you 70 times’, The Courier reported.

It has not been established which of the two was holding the knife. 

Both were found guilty by jury of the violent carjacking on November 22, 2023.

McGuire and Gray both later pleaded guilty to armed robbery.

The pair had confronted a man travelling to the Apco service station on Gisborne Road, in Bacchus Marsh, about 6am on September 30, 2022 – one day after the carjacking.

The court heard Gray got out of the pair’s vehicle and told the owner of a Land Cruiser: ‘It’s not your car anymore, give me the f**king keys.’

The man refused to hand over his keys and began struggling against Gray, who was armed with a hunting knife.

During the fight, McGuire got out of his and Gray’s car and hit the Land Cruiser owner with a steel baseball bat. 

Gray grabbed the man’s keys, which had fallen to the ground, and he and Gray fled the scene in the Land Cruiser.

However, they shortly after returned to the scene after realising they’d left behind a mobile phone.

In exchange for the device, the pair gave the man the Commodore keys.

The hunting knife and metal baseball bat were left at the scene.  

Both McGuire and Gray were later arrested at a motel in Essendon, in Melbourne’s west, on October 1, 2022. They have remained in custody since.

Judge Frank Gucciardo on Thursday spoke on the pair’s criminal history and early drug use, noting Mcguire began using cocaine when he was just 13.

The court heard McGuire was born to supportive parents in Clunes, north of Ballarat, who paid for him to spend a month at a drug rehabilitation facility prior to his offences.

However, McGuire had a difficult childhood and was suspended more than ten times in Year Eight due to fighting.

McGuire had met Gray at Federation TAFE, where McGuire studied landscaping.

Both have already served more than 550 days in pre-sentencing detention.

During McGuire’s sentencing, Judge Gucciardo recognised his family were already struggling due to the death of his sister.

Hannah McGuire’s body was found inside a torched car off Victoria Road near State Forest Road in Scarsdale, 25km south-west of Ballarat, on the morning of April 5.

Her ex-boyfriend and alleged killer, 21-year-old Lachlan Young, faced Ballarat Magistrates’ Court under the tearful watch of Hannah’s family on Tuesday.

Defence lawyer, Crystal Caruana, claimed Young was suffering from mental health issues. He will undergo a medication and mental health review while in custody.

During Fletcher McGuire’s sentencing, Judge Gucciardo said: ‘In more recent times your family has suffered from the death of your sister in tragic circumstances.

‘The cost of this sentence without doubt renders their anguish more acute.

‘In a case such as this your offending has meant that you have really jumped from trouble into a raging fire.’