Simon Gittany has been sentenced to a minimum of 18 years in prison for murdering his fiancee Lisa Cecilia Harnum.

He was sentenced to a maximum of 26 years for throwing Ms Harnum to her death from a 15th floor balcony of a Sydney high-rise. He will be eligible for parole on May 21, 2031.

Gittany, 40, had pleaded not guilty and he maintained his innocence in a judge-only trial that lasted more than a month.

Justice Lucy McCallum found him guilty of murder late last year.

He was found to have thrown the 30-year-old off the balcony of their inner-city apartment in a fit of “apoplectic” rage after she made plans to leave him and return to her native Canada.

During his trial, the court heard Gittany was controlling and had installed CCTV cameras inside their apartment and used a computer program to monitor Ms Harnum’s text messages and emails.