A man who murdered his girlfriend at Melton by “savagely” beating her has been denied a bid to reduce his 26-year jail sentence.

Brendan Neil was set a non-parole period of 22 years for killing Simone Quinlan in 2015, he was angry she’d gone to police after he’d attacked her with a baseball bat.

After a prolonged attack, Brendan Neil’s friend Wayne Marmo loaded the 33-year-old mother into the back of his ute, she was shot in the head, dumped in a mineshaft near Bendigo, before her body was set on fire.

The appeal judges found there was no error in the outcome imposed.