Danny Raymond George Matheson, 27, formerly of Donald St, was given the sentence, which includes a non-parole period of 15 years, by Justice Roderick Howie.

Matheson was found guilty of murdering his former de facto wife, Janene Greenaway in Tamworth Supreme Court on April 6 after a two-and-a-half week trial.

The jury of eight men and four women heard evidence from a number of local residents regarding the shooting of Greenaway outside a Coromandel St house on October 2, 1999.

The victim was found lying in the driveway and died in Tamworth Base Hospital a short time later of a single gunshot wound to the head.

Greenaway was the mother of Matheson’s three daughters, the youngest of whom was a toddler at the time of her mother’s death.