Three men from the eastern Caribbean island of Grenada who were convicted of killing an elderly US couple last year after hijacking their catamaran have been sentenced to decades in prison. They had escaped after their arrests but were recaptured shortly thereafter.

Ron Mitchell, a sailor in his 30s who was accused of being the ringleader, received two life sentences late on Wednesday in the killings of Ralph Hendry, 66, and Kathy Brandel, 71.

Atiba Stanislaus, a farmer in his late 20s, received 60 years for manslaughter and nearly 18 years for the rape of Brandel, among other sentences for a variety of crimes including kidnapping.

Trevon Robertson, an unemployed man in