Robert Conn received a 60 per cent discount in sentencing yesterday after committing to give evidence against two co-accused.

Judge Mark Taft described that commitment as  the most substantial mitigating factor as  Conn would be a central witness in a trial and the only person who could give direct evidence of his co-accused’s complicity.

Conn, 69, pleaded guilty to arson and perjury and two counts each of attempting to obtain property by deception, making false reports to police and handling stolen goods.

Yesterday in the Warrnambool County Court he was imprisoned for three years and 10 months, with a minimum two years to serve. 

He has already served 315 days in custody and will be eligible for parole in about 13-and-a-half months.

Judge Mark Taft said but for the guilty pleas, Conn would have been jailed for seven years, with a non-parole period of five years.

He said the Hopkins Hill homestead was burnt down on May 26, 2012, after the property was purchased for $1.285 million.

The judge said Conn and his partner conceived the idea to burn down the homestead for insurance money to clear debts — a plan described as cunning and sophisticated.

Conn then commissioned a friend to torch the property, who was to be paid with a boat to the value of $50,000 and be engaged in the rebuild of the home.

The judge said Conn also made two fictitious burglary reports to Warrnambool police in setting the scene for the arson.

Conn and his partner distanced themselves from the intended arson and went to a 6.10pm movie session in Geelong that night, where they switched off their phones while their home, contents and a four-wheel-drive vehicle were destroyed.

When they turned their phones back on, they found police had tried to call them. They returned home to Allansford, met police and said they were at the cinema and had no knowledge of how the fire was caused.

Conn provided police with a sworn statement setting out his movements and the two prior burglary reports.

“Fortunately your purjured statement does not appear to have deflected the police investigation,” Judge Taft said.

Two days later Conn contacted his insurance brokers and a fraudulent claim was lodged: $650,000 for the house, $200,000 for the contents and $41,000 for the four-wheel-drive.

Two white couches listed in the claim were later found in Conn’s Warrnambool home and a wooden stand at another address.

Conn went to the extent of providing insurance investigators with details of people who might have a motive to burn the homestead.

Conn was arrested on October 8 and initially denied all allegations. 

But two days later he told Detective Senior Constable Richard Hughes: “I’ve been a crook for most of my life and no person in my family has lived past the age of 72. I might die in jail. It is time I told all.”

Conn then made full admissions, including to the handling of two tractors stolen from a golf club.

Judge Taft said Conn had a history of heart trouble and skin cancers and two days after the plea hearing started he was admitted to St Vincent’s Hospital.

Conn had 22 prior convictions relating to fraud when he received a suspended jail sentence in 1997 and last year he was placed on a corrections order for dishonest dealings with a cheque.