Oliver was a housemate of Ms Howe while Franklin was a frequent visitor to her home in Caboolture, north of Brisbane. The duo remained at the scene for hours as Ms Howe's body burned. A Brisbane Supreme Court jury heard there had been tension over suspicions Ms Howe had stolen property from the two men. In sentencing, Justice Martin Burns said the two men had shown themselves to be "devoid of any shred of human decency". "These were, in my assessment, acts of extreme cowardice, savagely assailing a 57-year-old grandmother in her own home," Justice Burns said.