A man who murdered his vulnerable housemate, decapitated him, killed his two dogs and tried to cover his tracks has lost an appeal against the conviction.
Darren Ward Gale is serving 23 years' jail for the July 2016 killing of Noel Ingham, 58, who had taken him in as a tenant at his northwest Tasmanian home only weeks earlier.
Mr Ingham's body was discovered in a shallow grave on forestry land - his head, which Gale threw in a river, has never been found.
A Supreme Court of Tasmania jury found Gale guilty of murder in 2019 in a wholly circumstantial case.
Gale's appeal against the conviction, lodged on the grounds the evidence was not strong enough, was dismissed by the Court of Criminal Appeal on Monday.
The three-judge panel said it was clearly open to the jury to return a guilty verdict given the amount of blood in the unit, damage to the kitchen and Gale's "callous" post-murder conduct.
Gale, who was in court when the appeal was dismissed, said the decision was "a ****ing joke".
The judges said the decapitation supported an inference Gale must have inflicted fatal injuries to Mr Ingham's head.
Gale lived in Mr Ingham's unit rent-free for nearly three months after the murder, stole and disposed of his property and told lies about his disappearance.
Sentencing Justice Helen Wood said Gale had a "powerful sense" of self-preservation at all costs.
After the crime, Gale used Mr Ingham's phone to send text messages to his own phone to create a false impression he was alive.
He disposed of carpet and underlay "drenched" in blood and cleaned the unit walls.
Gale also told people Mr Ingham was in Hobart for medical treatment and feigned concerns to police.
Justice Wood described the murder as vicious and senseless.
There were tensions between the pair because of Gale's sense of entitlement and desire to exploit the situation by wanting to become Mr Ingham's carer against his wishes.
Mr Ingham was physically vulnerable. The remains of his two dogs were found about 80 metres from his burnt-out car, in the same area where his body was discovered.
Gale will be eligible for parole in late 2030.
