Tara Brown's murderer has sentence altered

Murderer Lionel Patea has had two years shaved off his sentence for breaching a domestic violence order but will not spend any less time in jail.

Patea was sentenced to life in prison with a non-parole period of 20 years after pleading guilty in February to murdering his ex-partner Tara Brown on the Gold Coast in September 2015.

Patea appeared briefly in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Tuesday where his five-year sentence for breaching a DVO was reduced to three years because of an administrative error.