Michael O'Neill sentenced to 18 years for murdering his partner, interior designer Stuart Rattle

Interior designer Stuart Rattle, who was murdered by his partner Michael O'Neill. Photo: Supplied

The man who murdered well-known interior designer Stuart Rattle has been jailed for 18 years.

Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth said on Wednesday that Michael O'Neill, known as 'The Talented Mr Ripley' because of the way he constantly lied,had been in a "fragile psychological state" when he killed his partner of 16 years.

Justice Hollingworth accepted O'Neill, who stood in the dock with hishead bowed as he was being sentenced, had murdered Mr Rattle in theheat of the moment without any forethought after an argument.

In sentencing O'Neill to 18 years' jail with a non-parole period of 13years, the judge said Mr Rattle had often called him lazy, a parasiteand threatened to send him back to where he came from.

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Justice Hollingworth said Mr Rattle treated O'Neill as an office boyand not his partner but his behaviour in no way justified his murder.

"I accept you are genuinely remorseful for what you have done. Thereis plenty of evidence that you are devastated," the judge toldO'Neill.

O'Neill, 48, who suffers from a dependent personality disorder, hit Mr Rattle over the head with a saucepan at the couple's South Yarra apartment at 6am on December 4, 2013, before strangling him with a dog lead as he begged for his life.

O'Neill claimed he snapped after Mr Rattle, 53, called him a "frigid bitch" for refusing to have sex with him that morning.

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Michael O'Neill sentenced to 18 years for murdering his partner, interior designer Stuart Rattle