Five years for woman who killed husband

Margaret Erica Uttley committed a "tragic criminal mistake" when she shot her alcoholic husband of 25 years in the head with a shotgun, a judge says.

The 54-year-old woman killed Stephen Henry Uttley when he confronted her armed with the gun in the early hours of October 11, 2000.

On Monday, Victorian Supreme Court judge Robert Osborn sentenced Uttley to five years in prison and ordered she serve a minimum of two years before being eligible for parole.

Justice Osborn said Uttley shot her husband in "circumstances precipitated by him".

He said Uttley was asleep in the couple's bedroom at their property in Tarneit, west of Melbourne, when Mr Uttley arrived home about 2am drunk and threatened her with the gun.

The mother-of-four managed to wrestle the weapon from him and fired it, shooting Mr Uttley in the head, while two of the couple's children were sleeping in another room.

Uttley buried her husband in a fernery on the couple's farm and later burnt the body, then told friends, family and the police he had moved to Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.

She was arrested after a police search uncovered human remains at the family's property in August 2007.

Justice Osborn said while Uttley had not intended to kill or seriously injure her husband, domestic violence was a scourge on the community and his death should not be treated as the loss of a life without value.

Uttley had pleaded guilty to manslaughter, but earlier pleaded not guilty to murder.

Justice Osborn said by pleading guilty and averting a trial Uttley had relinquished her chance of a full acquittal.

She had not committed any other offences and had worked hard to look after her children, grandchildren and elderly mother.

"The killing of your husband was a tragic criminal mistake in a life that has otherwise had much to commend it," Justice Osborn said.

At a pre-sentence hearing last week, Uttley's defence lawyer Philip Dunn, QC, said his client was "catapulted into the situation by her husband's drunk behaviour".

He said Mr Uttley was an alcoholic who treated his wife like a taxi driver and ignored his children, now aged 32, 30, 26 and 24, at Christmas and on their birthdays.

Outside court on Monday Mr Dunn said Uttley's family, who were present throughout her court appearances, were "all very sad".

Uttley appeared drawn and pressed her lips together as Justice Osborn delivered the sentence.

Before she was led away, Uttley waved sadly and blew kisses to her children, grandchildren and mother in the court room as they called out "I love you".

Members of Mr Uttley's family did not speak to the media but in a victim impact statement his sister Judith Dietrich said she felt plagued by the circumstances surrounding her brother's death.

"I will never have closure because I still don't know what happened," she said.

Justice Osborn said the concealment of Mr Uttley's death had caused his family "protracted uncertainty and distress".