A South African court has sentenced three people to life imprisonment for the kidnapping, robbery and murder of a British couple in February 2018.

Rachel Saunders, 64, and her husband Rodney, 73, were kidnapped while in Ngoye Forest, 150 kilometers (93 miles) north of the port city of Durban.

British botanists had been collecting native plants and seeds, before their bodies were found days later in a river.

Saffydeen Aslam del Vecchio, 46, his wife Fatima Patel, 35, and Malawian national Ahmad Mussa were found guilty of the murders last month and each sentenced to two life sentences by the KwaZulu-Natal division of the Durban High Court on Thursday.

The trio were also found guilty of stealing the couple’s belongings, including bank cards that were used to purchase various items near Durban, the country’s police service said in a statement., external.

Shortly after the couple disappeared, their car was found with blood marks and 734,000 rand (£42,000; $44,700) was reportedly withdrawn from their bank accounts.

In addition to the life sentence, the defendants were sentenced to 15 years in prison for robbery with aggravated circumstances and four years for theft.

Del Vecchio was also sentenced to five years in prison for an unrelated case of malicious damage to property.

The sentences of the accused will run simultaneously.