Maddison Parrott shot in Geelong Showgrounds tent is sorely missed by her family

Marlene Parrott finds it hard when her girlfriends share stories about their daughters’ lives.

She likes to hear them, but she doesn’t have any new photos to show or stories to tell.

Ms Parrott was dealt a lifetime of pain and suffering when her 29-year-old daughter, Maddison Jane was murdered in Geelong, south of Melbourne, in December 2018.

Four years on, Christmas remains a difficult time.

Maddison should be dressing up as Santa’s helper and putting up the Christmas tree with her dad in the special way they had.

Cheese platters and glasses of bubbles with family friends are different, and she’s no longer there for walks on the beach with friends and their dogs.

Her own dogs still wait at the door for her to come home.

Her killer, Nicholas James Cross, 35, faced a pre-sentence hearing in Geelong after a Victorian Supreme Court justice found him guilty of murder on Friday.

It’s not an aggravating feature of the crime that Cross still blames another person for the crime, his lawyer Glenn Casement said.

‘Mr Cross maintains his innocence,’ he added.

Cross was described as ‘utterly remorseless’ in court after being found guilty of the murder.

Cross fatally shot Maddison in the forehead with a rifle held at point-blank range inside a glamping tent at the Geelong Showgrounds on the morning of December 3, 2018.

She had been staying there with her partner.

Ms Parrott worked as a store manager at Platypus Shoes and was a ‘much-loved’ member of the community.

The 29-year-old had an ‘acrimonious’ split with her husband whom she married about three years ago, and a source said she had struggled since the break-up.

Maddison’s mother said festive occasions are particularly difficult without her vibrant daughter (pictured)

There’s no motive for the killing, Justice Rita Incerti – who heard Cross’s judge-alone trial – recalled.

Cross tried to blame Maddison’s partner at the tent for the murder.

But the court heard Cross texted a friend the next day to say ‘when they get me I’m doing 10yrs min [minimum]’.

The horror for Maddison and her family didn’t end with the shooting.

Cross set fire to the tent in an effort to cover his tracks, burning Maddison’s body inside.

Two days later Cross was arrested by heavily-armed tactical police at a property in Western Sydney about 3.45pm

Cross formed a vigilante group in 2016 after a group of teenagers tried to break into his home as he hid inside with his 10-year-old daughter though it’s unclear if this is linked to Ms Parrott’s death.

‘The kids are led by a few guys who are about 30. They are always armed with knives or poles and they are becoming more brazen.’

Nick Cross (pictured), 31, is accused of her murder but the judge said the motive remained a mystery

Ms Parrott described Maddison and her brother Luke as best friends.

‘My life fell apart the day Maddison went away. No day will ever be the same without my beautiful daughter,’ she said in a statement read to the court by prosecutors.

She signed it ‘Love mum’.

Every day Dale Parrott kisses a picture of Maddison, but it’s not the same as doing it in person.

‘My counsellor says time will heal. I do not think so,’ he said.

Nick Cross and his alleged accomplices were arrested at gunpoint at a home in Greystanes, in Sydney’s west days after Maddison’s body was found

In a letter cremated with Maddison, her best friend thanked her for a true and everlasting friendship, for school holidays together, for telling her that sometimes boys weren’t worth her time.

‘Thank you for being you,’ she wrote of the girl who had been like a sister since they were 12.

Casement said Cross had a childhood marred by substance abuse and domestic violence, but he was unwilling to have details revealed in court.

The hearing is continuing.