AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France (Reuters) - A French court handed a life sentence on Wednesday to the Polish son-in-law of a wealthy Monaco heiress who ordered her murder in an apparent attempt to acquire an inheritance.

Helene Pastor, 77, died from wounds sustained during an ambush in 2014 in the French Riviera city of Nice, near Monaco, when a gunman fired through the windows of her car. Her chauffeur also died four days after the attack.

The court in Aix-en-Provence, southern France, found Wojciech Janowski, a businessman and previously Poland’s honorary consul in Monaco, guilty of both murders.

The gunman and his lookout were also given life sentences, which in France are not necessarily served until the end of an offender’s life as they can apply for parole.

Janowski’s lawyer said he planned to appeal the ruling.

The Pastor family, which made its fortune in real estate, is highly influential in the wealthy principality of Monaco.