PC Adrian Goldsmith, who battered partner Jill in a sustained attack with a mallet, had falsely claimed she lunged at him with a knife.
The officer tried to fool his Northamptonshire Police colleagues into believing he had acted in self-defence.
Goldsmith, 50, was arrested last March after his wife was found dead at their home in Wootton Hall Park, Northampton, near the force's headquarters, following a 999 call.
A heavy battery and a can of paint were also used as weapons by Goldsmith who hid the mallet head in an airing cupboard, his trial at Stafford Crown Court heard.
The former detective was convicted by a jury last week and the judge has now ordered he cannot be considered for parole until 2030 at the earliest.
Paul Glenn rejected any suggestion Mrs Goldsmith had become violent and aggressive - or self-harmed in the minutes before her death.
Judge Glenn said she suffered "multiple blows, predominantly to the head", adding: "She must have been in terror as she fought for her life, as I am satisfied she did."
He told the defendant: "What was abundantly plain during the course of your trial was that you set about establishing a defence in an attempt to avoid the consequences of your actions.
"You lied repeatedly to the police, to the doctors who were treating you and to the prison chaplain some weeks later when you were on remand.
"You had caused injuries to yourself to enable the defence you ran at your trial to get off the ground."
Judge Glenn said Mrs Goldsmith was a "mother, a daughter and a friend of many", and "no sentence the court can impose can even begin to compensate for the loss and anguish the family are feeling".
He added: "The nature of this attack was such that your victim would inevitably have suffered physically before she died."
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