Twenty years in prison for father's murder

A 41-year-old man from Helmond was sentenced to 20 years in prison for murdering 67-year-old Bart Hillen, his father, and dumping his body in a canal last year. The court found him guilty of premeditated murder. The sentence is equal to what the Prosecutor demanded, AD reports.

In the sentencing, the court specifically mentions that the Helmond man murdered his father in cold blood and treated his body in a humiliating way. The fact that the murder seems to be solely financially motivated "makes the incomprehension about the deed and the grief of the survivors that much greater", the court said, according to the newspaper.

Bart Hillen's body was found in a bag in the Zuid-Willemsvaart canal in Helmond on May 19th last year. His son was arrested a week later, driving his father's car in Eindhoven. The son disappeared shortly after Hillen did.

The suspect told the court that he last saw his father on the morning of May 2nd, all dressed up and on his way to a getaway with a woman he met online. The son himself provided the authorities with chat conversations in which his father made an appointment with the woman. An anonymous letter sent to the authorities also claimed that Hillen wasn't murdered by his son, but by online dating scammers.

But the court did not believe this story. When Hillen's body was found, he was still in his pajamas and did not even have his dentures in - these were still in his bedroom. Furthermore, the owner of the dating site confirmed that the chats in which Hillen made the appointment with a woman were faked.