A man who killed an actress when she caught him trying to steal money from her purse was sentenced yesterday to 25 years in prison.

A 20-year-old illegal immigrant from Ecuador, Diego Pillco, had pleaded guilty in February to first-degree manslaughter in the death of Adrienne Shelly in exchange for the 25-year sentence. He faced 25 years to life in prison if he had been convicted after trial.

Pillco, a construction worker who was doing interior renovations in the Manhattan building where Shelly had an apartment she used as an office, admitted he strangled the “Factotum” actress after she found him trying to steal from her purse in the office. He said he then hanged Shelly to make her death look like a suicide.

“I want to say to the family I didn’t go out with the intention of hurting anyone,” Pillco said just before a state Supreme Court judge, Carol Berkman, imposed the sentence. “I have suffered because I know what I have done.” He insisted he came to the United States “to work and to help my family out.”

“I left my house with the purpose to do work,” he said. “I never meant to hurt anyone.”

Shelly, born Adrienne Levine, appeared in the 2005 movie “Factotum” with Matt Dillon. She later wrote, directed and costarred in “Waitress,” which also starred Keri Russell. It was released in 2007, after Shelly’s death.

The judge said when Pillco was sentenced that because he was in the country illegally he would be subject to immediate deportation upon release from prison.