Convicted killer Ian Francis Jamieson will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars after being sentenced to at least 30 years in prison for the murders of Greg Holmes, Peter Lockhart and Mary Lockhart in Wedderburn in 2014.

Jamieson, 65, was sentenced in the Supreme Court in Melbourne yesterday where he received two separate life sentences for the murders of Mr and Mrs Lockhart and a 25 year sentence for the murder of Mr Holmes, to be served concurrently.

Jamieson repeatedly stabbed Mr Holmes, 48, on the night of October 22, 2014, before arming himself with shotguns and driving to another property, where he shot Mr Holmes' mother, Mary, 75, and her husband, Peter, 78.

In sentencing, Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth said Jamieson had shown no regret or remorse for his “cowardly and despicable conduct”, describing the deaths as senseless.

“You have not shown the slightest remorse for your appalling crimes, even now you continue to blame your victims for what happened,” she said.

Justice Hollingworth said the three murders were “very serious examples of the most serious crime known to our legal system and our community”.

“You intentionally took the lives of three other human beings, fueled by your anger and hatred for them,” she said.

“You sought out each of your unarmed victims at night, on their own properties where they should have felt safe.”

Justice Hollingworth said it was hard to adequately summarise the profound effect the crimes had had on the victims’ loved ones.

“It has been almost impossible for them to celebrate what should be happy family occasions – events like birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, Christmas, the birth of a new grandchild – when so many loved ones are gone,” she said.

In imposing a minimum term of 30 years behind bars, Justice Hollingworth took into account Jamieson’s guilty pleas to the three murders, but noted the consideration was not as great as it might have been due to the fact he had changed those pleas a number of times.

“These were by no means early or straightforward pleas,” she said.

“Although they have ultimately been spared a trial, I have no doubt that the process by which your pleas have been entered has added to the distress of the family members and friends of your victims, many of whom have regularly attended court hearings here and in Bendigo.”

Justice Hollingworth described the justification for Jamieson’s most recent attempt to change his plea in the murder of Mr Holmes, an alleged attack on Jamieson with a drug-filled syringe, as a “complete fabrication”.

She also noted the nature of the injuries inflicted by Jamieson on his victims meant their identity could only be established by DNA testing, which had caused “immeasurable pain” to his family.

“It has also deprived them of the opportunity to view their bodies, to say a final goodbye before they were laid to rest,” she said.

The court heard Jamieson's crimes were motivated by a dispute over a bit of dust – a neighbourhood squabble that escalated suddenly and inexplicably.

A track that runs along the property Jamieson owns in Wedderburn is also the best access route to the neighboring property, where Mr Holmes lived next door to his elderly parents.

Neighbourly relations were good to start with, but over the years Jamieson slowly grew more and more aggrieved about seeing the Lockharts drive up the track – he said they were spraying dust onto his house.

When Mr Holmes started driving through it regularly, sometimes on the back of a tractor, Jamieson's fury grew.

On the day of the murders, Mr Holmes drove that tractor up the road, slowly, not kicking up much dust.

That was enough, it seemed, to drive Jamieson over the edge.

He waited until nightfall then climbed over the fence between the properties, armed with a large hunting knife.

"Over time you became utterly obsessed with their use of the road reserve," Justice Hollingworth told the court.

"You expressed no regret and remorse for your actions. You killed the Lockharts for no reason, other than your longstanding animosity towards them."

Speaking on the steps of the court after the sentence, Greg Holmes’ brother Paul said he wanted his relatives to be remembered as people who loved and were loved in return.

"People that enjoyed their lives and should still be here with us, enjoying new grandkids, new life," he said.

He said Jamieson had always acted strangely. 

"I don't like to put a tag on people, but to me he's always struck me as a sociopath in his behaviour.”

The Lockharts were well known in the area. Mr Lockhart was part of a farming family that had lived in the region for four generations. His second wife, Mary, was from Bendigo.

The couple had moved closer to town from the Lockhart family farm, to their neat home on the Wedderburn-Lockhart Road.

Mr Lockhart, a former president of the Wedderburn Historical Engine and Machinery Society, was involved in the town's football and tennis teams.

"He joined the engine club after he retired and has been a good member and a good worker," local resident Geoff Maxwell said.

Jamieson will be 95 before he is eligible for parole in 2046.

VIDEO: Mary Lockhart’s son Paul Holmes and daughter Maree St Clair talk to the media outside court in April 2016.

The use of a dirt track between the Wedderburn properties of Jamieson and Mr Holmes was a source of contention between them.

Jamieson pleaded guilty to murdering the Lockharts and did the same over Mr Holmes' death, but then tried to fight the first charge, by arguing he killed the younger man in self-defence, and then received bad legal advice.

Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth this month refused the application, which meant Jamieson pleaded guilty to all three counts of murder.

More to come.