A man who viciously beat his "detested" ex-wife unconscious with a table leg, then choked her to death with an extension lead after a fight over a heater will spend the next two decades behind bars.

Mehmed Solmaz, 62, was jailed on Monday for 25 years over the May 2017 murder of former Village Cinemas cleaner Fatma Solmaz, 61, who was in remission from leukaemia.

Mehmed Solmaz outside court on Monday. Credit:AAP

After the brutal killing, Solmaz fled Victoria but was caught by Queensland police just days after leaving Fatma dead on the floor, with a knotted extension cord wrapped tightly twice around her neck.

When he was extradited back to Melbourne, Solmaz made "implausible" claims his former wife planned to poison his food or kill him as he slept, but admitted during his arrest "I killed the wife", later uttering "I'm regretful a thousand times".