A man who admitted to committing a brutal double murder of two women in Toronto in 1983 was sentenced to life imprisonment without any chance of parole for 21 years.

The sentence was delivered to Joseph George Sutherland by Superior Court Justice Maureen Forestell in a courtroom in downtown Toronto on Friday.

In October, Sutherland pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder related to the deaths of Irene Gilmore and Susan Taice.

Gilmore, the daughter of mining magnate David Gilmore, was 22 years old when she was stabbed, strangled, and sexually assaulted in her Yorkville apartment on the night of December 20, 1983.

Earlier that year, Susan Taice was found stabbed to death after being sexually assaulted in her home in Pickford Park, just a few kilometers from Gilmore’s apartment.

Sutherland had not been arrested for nearly 40 years. The court heard that he considered turning himself in at various times during that period but chose not to surrender.

Sutherland was only arrested after advances in DNA technology led officers to link evidence from the crime scenes. He was detained at a residence in Moosonee, Ontario, by Ontario Provincial Police officers in November 2022.

Sutherland will appear before the Superior Court of Justice on Friday afternoon for sentencing. After pleading guilty to two counts of second-degree murder, he will be sentenced to life imprisonment with parole eligibility.