As the Hopkins Hill homestead in Allansford burned on the evening of May 26, 2012, Robert Conn and his partner were 180 kilometres away in Geelong, in a cinema and with their mobile phones off.

The couple had arranged the trip to the movies to give them an alibi, the County Court was told on Monday, and Conn had promised $50,000 to a friend for torching the home before 7pm.

The friend was also promised a part in the envisaged rebuild, the court was told.

Prosecutor Pat Bourke said the homestead, built in 1854, was destroyed in the blaze and that Conn and his partner later tried to claim insurance payouts of $850,000 for the house and contents and $41,000 for a car that was in the garage at the time.

In a plan, which judge Mark Taft described as sophisticated and cunning, the court heard that Conn also reported false burglaries to police in the months before the fire and had an alarm system fitted to create the impression he was concerned about intruders.

But after insurers and then police investigated the fire, Conn admitted his crimes to a detective in October 2012. 

Mr Bourke said Conn, 69, made full admissions to police and told the detective: “I’ve been a crook for most of my life ... I might die in jail. It is time I told all.”

Conn, a police officer for six years in his early 20s and a former mortgage broker, pleaded guilty to charges of arson and perjury and two counts each of attempting to obtain property by deception and making false reports to police.

His co-accused — his partner and the man commissioned to start the fire — are awaiting trial.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, the man who sold Conn the homestead said he and his wife had their lives “ruined” as they had experienced distress and huge financial losses trying to reclaim the money Conn owed them over the sale. The couple were owed $545,000, the court was told. 

Defence counsel Jo Swiney agreed with Judge Taft’s assertion that Conn had offended while under financial pressure and said her client understood he faced a stint in jail. He now looked forward to the day he could be released and could teach his grandchildren how to fish, Ms Swiney said.

Judge Taft said he could not be certain about Conn’s remorse given his guilty plea came two years after he admitted what he had done to police.

Conn also pleaded guilty to two counts of handling stolen goods, related to the sale of two tractors worth a combined $110,000, that he sold in the knowledge they had been stolen from Kingston Links Golf Club.

He was remanded in custody to be sentenced at a later date.

?THE AGE