PHRAE, Thailand (AP) – A court in Thailand has sentenced three Thai men to death in the murder of a British expatriate and his Thai wife whose brother allegedly ordered the killings.

The Phrae Provincial Court issued its verdict Friday in the case of 64-year-old retired petroleum engineer Alan Hogg and his 61-year-old wife, Nhot Suddaen, whose bodies were found buried on their property in northern Thailand last September.

Police say the killers were traced after they stole the victims’ pickup truck, and that they had confessed to being hired by Nhot’s brother to kill the couple for financial gain.

A fourth defendant had his sentence commuted to 25 years in prison for cooperating with the investigation.