Resentful, jealous and armed with $2 of petrol in a plastic container, Darren Clover knew his ex-girlfriend and her new partner had little prospects of escape from the small room they slept in.

There was only one door to the alcove of the old Kinnears rope factory in Footscray, and Clover knew Tanya Burmeister and David Griffiths were in the habit of securing the door with a chain each night.

Darren Patrick Clover pleaded guilty to three murder charges over the Footscray fire. Credit:

The couple begged in central Melbourne each day and squatted in the alcove in preference to sleeping rough, and occasionally also had with them Ms Burmeister's 15-year-old daughter, Zoe, in a small space that was also crowded with bedding and clothes.

All three were inside the alcove about 11.25pm on March 1, 2017 when Clover poured the petrol outside the door and set it alight and walked away to get a train.