The Dutch killer of three Irishmen who, after pumping bullets into his victims, later helped to carve up and burn their bodies has been sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment.
But Mike Braxhoofden (23) who admitted the killings will only have to serve, at most, 11 1/2 years of his sentence.
His accomplice, Ronald van Bommel (20), who stabbed the bodies of the three men, was jailed for 10 years but is expected to be freed within six to seven.
Mr Vincent Costello (29) and his brother, Morgan (20), of Bansha, Co Tipperary, and their friend, Mr Damien Monahan (24), of Ennis, Co Clare, flatmates of the convicted men, were murdered in their apartment in Scheveningen last April.
Within the Dutch judicial system the two are automatically entitled to have one-third of their sentences remitted for good behaviour, and the six-month period they have already spent in detention is also deducted.
The Dutch state prosecutor had demanded that the perpetrator of the "vile and sickening" killings be put away for the rest of his life and that his accomplice serve at least 16 years in prison.
But yesterday judges at the criminal court in The Hague decided there were mitigating factors.
They singled out the "unimaginable" amount of drugs involved, the young age of the perpetrators and the view of experts that it was highly unlikely they would commit such barbaric and macabre crimes again.
Braxhoofden was convicted on eight counts of murder, burning and destroying the bodies of his victims, arson and armed robberies before and after the murders.
His accomplice, van Bommel, was found guilty on six counts of being an accessory to the murders, stabbing the victims, helping to mutilate and burn their bodies, arson and involvement in armed robberies.
The spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office, Mrs Kitty Nooy, said after the verdicts that they were "hideous" crimes. She confirmed that they had expected more severe punishment than that imposed. The state prosecutor now has 14 days in which to decide to appeal the verdicts on the grounds that the punishment was not severe enough.
Ms Nooy said: "It was certainly one of the most horrific murders I have come across. The three judges in the case wanted to impress that these were terrible murders.
"But they believe these young men should be given another chance to show they can do better. The circumstances of the crime were rather exceptional. I know it is very difficult for the families in Ireland to accept."
The chief police investigator of the murders, Insp Andre Teiwes, who kept in regular contact with the families and briefed them at all stages said afterwards: "We are disappointed. We would have preferred heavier sentences in this case."
A court official contacted the Monahan and Costello families to inform them of the outcome as soon as sentences were announced. No relatives or close friends of the Irish families were in court.