Double-murderer Darronte Dill will sit in prison for at least the next 20 years for the brutal slayings of Maxwell Brangman and Frederick Gilbert.

The 19-year-old was unanimously convicted of the murders in December and showed no emotion during yesterday's sentencing.

When asked if he had anything to say before sentencing, Dill said: "No."

Chief Justice Richard Ground explained to Dill that because he was 17 years old at the time of the killings, the law allowed him a minimum sentence of seven years.

"The penalty for murder is fixed by law and is life imprisonment," he said. "That is what I impose on each count.

"There are statutory restrictions on the amount of time which must pass before you can be considered for parole.

"As you were 17 at the time of the offences, the prescribed minimum period in your case is seven years. However, the Court of Appeal has held that those limitations are unlawful.

"In the case of R v Selassie, I held that that meant that this court could increase as well as decrease the statutory minimum."

He continued: "For the reasons given in that case, I consider that I have the same power here and propose to exercise it.

"The main aggravating features of this case are the fact that there were two victims, that you used extreme violence, that once you started you persisted with the attacks on the two men without mercy or remorse, and there was an element of premeditation in that that you went out looking for someone to kill.

"However, I acknowledge that there is difficulty with the last factor in that you were not charged with premeditated murder. I think the way to approach that in this case is to take two such periods <\!m> one for each of your victims and make them consecutive and then add an appropriate element for other aggravating factors.

"On that basis, I arrive at 20 years as the minimum before you can be considered for parole. It would have been considerably longer if not for your comparatively young age."

Dill and an accomplice attacked the victims as they slept in a shed in St. David's early on September 21, 2008. Dill stabbed Mr. Gilbert, 53, multiple times before the victim escaped into the sea and died.

He then joined his accomplice in attacking 57-year-old former Regiment soldier Mr. Brangman. Dill stabbed him and slit his throat before his accomplice smashed his head with a rock. Dill then set the shed on fire, burning Mr. Brangman's body.

Prosecutors alleged that Dill is a member of the Parkside gang who committed the killings to prove himself as "a hard guy" in the criminal underworld. However, Dill denied any gang motive in the crime, telling detectives he committed the murders simply because: "I wanted to know what it was like to take a life."

Dill refused to name his accomplice and later denied any involvement in the crime, trying to pin the blame on fellow suspect Roger Lightbourne Sr.

Mr. Lightbourne Sr. was originally charged alongside Dill for the murder of Mr. Brangman but was then released after Police concluded a witness had concocted the statement implicating him. The jury heard during the case how Dill confessed to the crime while he was in the Police cells with Mr. Lightbourne Sr. after their arrests. At that point, Dill named his accomplice in the killings as Mr. Lightbourne's son, Roger Jr. Undercover detectives tape-recorded that conversation and it was played to the jury in the trial.

However, in a subsequent Police interview which was also tape-recorded Dill refused to speak about this, beyond confirming there was another man involved.

He later changed his story and started blaming Mr. Lightbourne Sr. for the crime.