By Sarah-Jane Collins
A man who murdered his wife and kept her remains in a 44-gallon drum for 23 years will spend 21 years in jail.
In February, a Supreme Court jury found Frederick William Boyle, 58, of Carrum Downs guilty of murdering his first wife Edwina Boyle.
Mrs Boyle disappeared in October 1983. At the time, Boyle told police she had been having an affair and had run off with a truck driver named Ray.
But in reality she was dead - shot in the head and strangled with her husband's tie.
Boyle put his wife's body in a hessian sack and then stuffed her into a drum.
He kept the drum for 23 years, even moving it when the family relocated.
During the trial Boyle maintained his innocence, saying that he had found his wife dead in their bed and had panicked, hiding her body because he had "a fairly low opinion of the Victoria Police".
But the jury rejected Boyle's version of events, finding him guilty of one count of murder on February 9.
At his plea hearing Boyle's barrister, Jane Dixon, SC, told Justice Jack Forrest that Boyle still loved his wife.
"He feels that a bit of himself was buried in the drum with her," she said.
Justice Forrest sentenced Boyle to 21 years' jail.
He will serve a minimum of 17 years in jail before he is eligible for parole.
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