TORONTO -- Paul Hindle "snapped" in a rage of fatal violence, strangling his live-in girlfriend Lisa Lebitka when he "realized she would uncover his lies," a Superior Court heard Friday.

Crown attorney Heather Keating revealed the gruesome details of the murder of Lebitka in reading an agreed statement of facts. Lebitka was killed after discovering that Hindle's promises of a quick money-fix and a family Caribbean vacation were fictitious.

Hindle, now 47, admitted he killed Lebitka, 45, the loving mother of three children, Paige, 12, Holly, 9, and Charly, 7, on Dec. 30, 2011 and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder before Justice John McMahon.

Hindle and Lebitka had been living with her three children since February 2010, court heard.

Hindle vowed to Lebitka that their financial problems would be solved once he received a six-figure Revenue Canada cheque, Keating said.

Lebitka never knew that Hindle owed more than $30,000, including $17,000 in arrears in child support for his two teenaged sons.

Although Lebitka and Hindle were apparently happy, they were troubled with "financial hardship."

Lebitka believed Hindle when he said the hefty cheque had arrived.

When she exhorted him to cash it, Hindle choked her into unconsciousness in the front foyer of their Airdrie Rd. home in Leaside, on Dec. 30, 2011.

"As he dragged her body into the kitchen, however, Lebitka made a sound and for a moment Hindle thought, ‘Oh, maybe I haven't killed her,'" Keating said.

Hindle confessed to police that he briefly considered saving her.

"I thought, no, I have to finish this because if she comes back I'm in big trouble," Hindle told detectives.

Hindle suffocated her with a pillow and a pair of socks in her mouth, court heard.

Afterwards, Hindle then concocted a scheme to conceal the murder, intercepting Lebitka's phone calls and texts. He also misled police, friends and family into thinking Lebitka was missing while she actually lay dead, wrapped up "like a mummy" under her child's bunkbed where police found her on New Year's Day.

The evening he killed her, Hindle dined at McSorley's pub where he discovered waitress Danielle Leblanc -- with whom he had been flirtatious -- wasn't working. He texted her that Lisa was out with her girlfriends and he was alone.

Hindle invited her to phone him at home -- and she did -- chatting from 2:30 a.m. until 3:15 a.m.

The next day, Hindle shopped at Home Depot, picking up plastic vapour barrier, a tarp, duct tape and room deordorizer to disguise the smell from the decaying corpse, court heard.

He wrapped Lebitka up in the plastic barrier and tarp, sealed her body and head with duct tape.

He then phoned all the people he expected he should call if Lisa went missing. Toronto Police arrived at 4:30 p.m. to take a missing persons report. Within 14 minutes, officers found Lebitka's body and arrested Hindle for second-degree murder.

Hindle made a weepy apology in court, saying he had robbed her children "of an amazing mother" and that he was "ashamed" of his actions.

Hindle is now serving a life sentence, but on Feb. 27 Justice John McMahon will announce how many years the killer will serve -- between 10 and 25 -- before he can apply for parole.