Murder of Stuart Rattle

Stuart Charles Rattle (16 November 1960 – 4 December 2013) was an Australian interior designer and owner of Stuart Rattle Interior Design, a Melbourne firm known for high-end residential work. His design work was featured in publications such as Belle magazine and on the television program Gardening Australia.

Rattle's partner of 16 years, Michael Anthony O'Neill, was originally from Ireland and had been working as a waiter at an Italian bistro when the two met in the 1990s. O'Neill subsequently began working for Rattle's design firm, handling accounting, quoting, invoicing and stock ordering for clients.

On 4 December 2013, following an argument, O'Neill struck Rattle with a frying pan and then strangled him with a dog leash inside their South Yarra home. In the days after the killing, O'Neill maintained the pretense that Rattle was still alive, sending text messages from Rattle's phone and telling friends that Rattle was unwell. O'Neill then set fire to the home, attempting to stage the fire as an accident involving candles. He confessed to the killing after police identified inconsistencies in his account of events.

O'Neill pleaded guilty to one count of murder and one count of arson. During sentencing proceedings, a treating psychologist diagnosed O'Neill with "dependent personality disorder with prominent features of narcissistic personality disorder." Defence counsel argued this diagnosis should be treated as a mitigating factor, and the prosecution did not contest this position. O'Neill was sentenced to 18 years in prison with a non-parole period of 13 years.

Rattle's estate, valued at $1 million, had named O'Neill as beneficiary in his will. However, the court deemed O'Neill ineligible to benefit from the estate given his conviction for Rattle's murder, and the estate was instead given to Rattle's parents.

The case was later the subject of a book, Smoke and Mirrors, by Robin Bowles. Rattle's home was separately profiled in the book Stuart Rattle's Musk Farm, which included a foreword by Paul Bangay. A tribute to Rattle also appeared in Vogue Australia.