A Spanish court has sentenced a Pakistani man to 36 years in jail for murdering three elderly siblings over debts reportedly linked to an online romance scam.

A jury in October convicted Dilawar Hussain of killing the two sisters and their disabled brother in Morata de Tajuna, near Madrid, in December 2023.

In November, a Madrid court sentenced Hussain to 12 years in jail for each murder, citing a “psychological alteration” as a mitigating factor, according to a copy of the ruling seen by AFP on Friday.

Hussain has appealed the sentence.

Hussain, 44, turned himself in to police and admitted the killings after the siblings’ partially burned bodies were found in their home.

The siblings, who were in their 70s, had been beaten to death, possibly with an iron bar.

When he took the stand at his trial, Hussain asked for forgiveness, saying he had “heard voices” and “was not in my right mind”.

Neighbours told Spanish media the tragedy was linked to a fake online love affair, in which the two sisters believed they were in long-distance relationships with two US servicemen.

They were led to believe one of the servicemen had died and that the other needed money to cover costs so he could send them a share of a multi-million-euro inheritance, causing the sisters to rack up significant debts.

Hussain, who rented a room in the siblings’ house, lent the sisters some 60,000 euros ($70,000), which they never repaid, according to the court ruling.

This prompted him to attack one of the sisters with a hammer in February 2023 — months before the fatal attack at the end of that year.

He received a two-year prison sentence for the attack, but it was suspended because it was his first offence, as is customary under Spanish law.

Hussain faces a separate trial for allegedly murdering his 39-year-old Bulgarian cellmate in February 2024 while in a Madrid prison awaiting trial for the siblings’ deaths.