A drug addict who initiated a burglary that resulted in the fatal stabbing of a Victorian war veteran has been sentenced to 27 years in jail.

The body of Kenneth Handford was found in his Springbank home, near Ballarat, on what was to be his 90th birthday in September 2015.

He had been tied up and stabbed 13 times.

Kenneth Handford was tied up, stabbed and left to die at his isolated property near Ballarat. ( Supplied: Victoria Police )

Adam Lucas Williamson, 40, pleaded guilty to murder, aggravated burglary and theft.

Williamson and the victim had worked together on a potato farm until Williamson was fired under suspicion of stealing Mr Handford's wallet.

The Supreme Court heard Williamson and his accomplice, 29-year-old Jonathan Cooper, planned to break into Mr Handford's home to steal money to feed their ice addiction, knowing that he was elderly and lived alone on an isolated property.

But Mr Handford woke up and Cooper flew into a rage and stabbed him multiple times after Williamson lied about Mr Handford being a paedophile.

Justice Jane Dixon accepted Williamson had no murderous intent when he went to the home, but noted that he continued to ransack the property after the attack and left Mr Handford to die.

'Lowest of the low'

Outside court, Mr Handford's family said the sentence would now give them a chance to grieve.

"As far as I'm concerned, Williamson let a rabid dog off the lead that night," granddaughter Leah Handford said. "They are both responsible, regardless."

"He is the lowest of the low," grandson Jarrod Handford said.

"He's the thing that keeps people awake at night."

"He's the thing that keeps our children awake at night," added Ms Handford.

She said Mr Handford was "a larrikin, always up for a laugh, one of the most generous people you would have ever met".

The family praised police for their work but said the murder and the two-and-a-half years leading up to today's sentence had been harrowing.

"You don't learn all the information to begin with and there is good reason for that," Ms Handford said.

"The police need to keep things to themselves in order to catch people.

"Each time you get a bit more information you are retraumatised. It takes days, weeks to resettle yourself."