Beau Lamarre-Condon asked mother to ‘pose’ for photo in attempt to get out of ‘lie’ to Ch10 presenter, jury told

Beau Lamarre-Condon got his mother to pose for a photo in an attempt to get out of a “lie” told to a TV presenter he allegedly murdered months later, a jury has been told.

The former police officer disguised himself as an Uber Eats rider before allegedly killing Jesse Baird and his new partner Luke Davies at the journalist’s Paddington home in Sydney in February 2024.

The 31-year-old has pleaded not guilty, and is arguing self-defence as he fights the murder allegations before a jury trial in the NSW Supreme Court.

Mr Lamarre-Condon briefly dated Mr Baird from about late 2022 to April 2023 and again from September to November of that year.

Their final break-up came after the TV presenter discovered the former officer had gone through his phone, and made an Instagram post in November 2023 that made it look like Mr Baird had sent him a large bouquet of flowers.

Mr Lamarre-Condon allegedly obtained the picture of the bouquet from the internet, and made the post visible to men he believed to be his “romantic rivals” while excluding Mr Baird, the jury was told.

When the Channel 10 presenter confronted him about it, asking, “What’s this about?” in a text, Mr Lamarre-Condon allegedly claimed his stepfather had sent them to his mother.

During evidence from his former colleague, NSW Police Senior Sergeant Nicole Harvell, the jury was on Tuesday told Mr Lamarre-Condon allegedly dropped $160 to replicate the bouquet.

He then asked his mother, Coleen Lamarre, to “pose” with the bouquet and put together a handwritten note making it look as though her partner had sent her the flowers.

“I believe he told (Ms Lamarre) what had happened and asked her if she would pose to make it looked like she had received the flowers,” Ms Harvell told the jury.

“The truth was that he went and purchased flowers to try and sort of lie to Jesse.”

A photo, earlier shown to the jury, shows Ms Lamarre posing with the bouquet.

Ms Lamarre is not accused of any wrongdoing in relation to the alleged murders.

Mr Lamarre-Condon sent the photo to friend Shae Davison, with the woman previously telling the jury he “wanted to try and get his way out” of the situation.

There is no evidence Mr Lamarre-Condon actually sent the photographs to Mr Baird, but he did send the TV presenter a message asking to meet in person so he could “take ownership of something”. Mr Baird did not reply.

He allegedly later told Ms Harvell “I’m so in the wrong” in relation to “lying about the bouquet” and blocking a man the TV presenter was casually dating, Damon Wilson, on Mr Baird’s phone.

When Mr Lamarre-Condon told her he had not slept or eaten, Ms Harvell allegedly responded: “He caused you to do this, honestly.

“I just believed that Jesse was probably playing games a little bit, probably playing with the accused’s mind and heart and that caused the accused to get upset and do the things he did with the phone and the flowers.”

Just two days after Mr Baird broke up with the former officer following the flowers incident, Mr Lamarre-Condon allegedly called him a “manipulative player” in a text message to the presenter.

“You don’t need to worry about seeing me out etc because you won’t exist, and no further conversation needs to take place,” Mr Lamarre-Condon allegedly said.

He also allegedly texted Mr Wilson that same day claiming that the journalist had led him on and “gaslit” him.

“I would hate to see you get hurt … it took me so long to recover from all the manipulation and he has now tried to make me look like the ‘bad guy’ with no accountability on his end,” Mr Lamarre-Condon allegedly wrote.

Days later again, Mr Lamarre-Condon asked a friend - known for legal reasons by the pseudonym Alex Carrol - if her ex-boyfriend could get him a gun, the jury was told.

Ms Lamarre was spotted on CCTV, previously shown to the jury, hiring a car at Hertz in Mascot the night before her son allegedly murdered the couple in February 2024.

Ms Lamarre, who the jury was told used to be a police officer, was given a discount that is given to members of the NSW Police Association by certain businesses.

The jury was told Mr Lamarre-Condon allegedly set his alarm for 4.30am the next morning, texted a friend “I’ll try to call you tonight and update you x” and “there’s no sign I’m doing it”, then drove to a Kensington address where he allegedly swapped his own Tesla for the hire car.

Where cop kept bodies after deaths: court

Mr Lamarre-Condon is accused of leaving the bodies of a Sydney couple in a van overnight after he allegedly murdered them, with his movements after the couple’s deaths revealed in court.

He is accused of stuffing their bodies in surfboard bags before trying to sink them in a dam, and ultimately dumping them outside the fence line of a Greek monastery in Bungonia.

The jury was played a long CCTV compilation, during which Mr Lamarre-Condon was spotted purchasing a second surfboard bag from Westfield Miranda about two hours after the alleged murders.

In the footage, he is later shown returning to Mr Baird’s home in a cleaner get-up and coming back a second time carrying blue tarp.

Between those times, he is alleged to have purchased a series of items from Bunnings Alexandria, including disposable gloves and a bucket mop wringer.

He is accused of hiring a Hiace van that night before returning to the Paddington home to load the bodies into the van.

The jury was told Mr Lamarre-Condon left the bodies in the van overnight parked at a street in Kensington.

He again returned to the home to wash blood from the courtyard later that evening, the jury was told.

On the evening of February 20, he allegedly went for a sushi train dinner with a friend before dumping the couple’s belongings at a skip bin in Cronulla.

He allegedly tried to sink the couple’s bodies in a dam the following day.

The jury was told he kept saying, “F**k, now I have to come back” to a friend he had taken on the drive to the farm, before dumping the bodies near the monastery at a later time.

On February 23, he allegedly drove to Bunnings Rockdale to get paint and used it to cover blood stains in the van.

The couple’s DNA was allegedly found on the van, with the jury shown a series of photographs of bloodstains spotted on the vehicle.

Prosecutors allege Mr Lamarre-Condon knew he was a police suspect in the couple’s disappearance when he handed himself in on the morning of February 23.

The jury was told he called a police helpline on the way to the police station to report a workplace injury.

“All this death and trauma and psychological abuse and trauma – did I say trauma already? – has caused me, um, not to sleep, get anxious. It’s caused me to have some symptoms of schizophrenia,” Mr Lamarre-Condon allegedly told the helpline.

“Actually sorry, you know what … can we just start again? Delete that whole thing, we’ll just keep it short and sweet.”

Following his arrest, he told a custody manager he was on tablets for depression, anxiety and schizophrenia, but prosecutors allege he had never been prescribed schizophrenia medication and was not on any medicine for mental health issues at the time.

Cop ‘monitored’ ex’s playlists

Mr Lamarre-Condon allegedly told a friend Mr Baird must have had a rough week because he was listening to “depresso” music, with the jury told the former officer monitored his ex’s Spotify account after they broke up.

NSW Police Senior Sergeant Nicole Harvell, who worked with Mr Lamarre-Condon, told the jury he was “monitoring” the TV presenter’s account on music streaming platform Spotify after their first break-up in April 2023.

“I think he must have been going through it this week…his Spotify playlist is very depresso (sic),” Mr Lamarre-Condon allegedly told her following their break-up.

Ms Harvell said Mr Baird had logged into his account in Mr Lamarre-Condon’s car at some point during their brief relationship.

“The accused was still actively monitoring that Spotify account, and what had been played,” Ms Harvell told the jury.

That same month, Mr Lamarre-Condon aired concerns with Ms Harvell that the TV presenter was talking to other men and allegedly told her he had gone through Mr Baird’s phone and messages.

Before speaking with Mr Baird, Mr Lamarre-Condon allegedly told his friend: “I’ll tell him about the messages, but I might tell a semi white lie and not tell him I went through his phone.”

During her evidence, Ms Harvell claimed about 90 per cent of a conversation she had with Mr Lamarre-Condon during a 12-hour shift in March 2023 was about Mr Baird.

“He said that they had the same love languages… he just said that they were both very affectionate with each other,” she told the jury.

“(Mr Lamarre-Condon was) almost obsessive over Jesse, which I thought was nice and he was just very excited.”