Couple who killed Ukrainian women to kidnap baby sentenced to life in prison

A German court on Monday sentenced a husband and wife to life in prison for killing two Ukrainian refugees, the mother and grandmother of a newborn girl they planned to abduct and pass off as their own.

The couple, partially named by German media as Marco O., 43, and his wife Ina, 45, were arrested in March, one week after the murders in which the women were bludgeoned to death.

Judges in the southwestern city of Mannheim noted the severity of the crime which made an early release after a minimum 15 years less likely, a court spokesman said.