Two brothers have each been jailed for 30 years for three murders in Drenthe by judges in Assen.

The brothers were found guilty of murdering a man who was walking his dog in woods in November 2012 and an elderly couple at their home in Exloo six months later. The public prosecution department had called for life sentences.

Police managed to link dna traces found at the crime scene with one of the brothers, who come Hengelo. Telephone taps led investigators to the second suspect and both men, named as Admilson and Marcos R, were arrested in March 2014.

‘The brothers were calculating and acted in cold blood’, out of financial motives, the court said. Thirty years is the highest sentence Dutch courts can hand down, apart from life.