Man convicted of killing wife and three-year-old daughter in Gjerdrum double murder

A Norwegian court has sentenced Hans Ole Sjursen, 48, to 21 years of preventive detention for the murders of his wife and three-year-old daughter in Gjerdrum in December 2024, according to Dagbladet, citing Romerikes Blad.

The sentence, handed down by Romerike and Glåmdal District Court, carries a minimum term of 14 years. Sjursen was also ordered to pay more than one million kroner in compensation to the victims’ surviving relatives.

The sentence is stricter than what prosecutors had sought. The prosecution had called for 21 years of ordinary imprisonment, while the court instead imposed preventive detention, which in Norway is used when there is considered to be a risk of reoffending and allows for continued detention beyond the standard term if the person is deemed to remain dangerous.

Sjursen stood trial over five days in April at Romerike and Glåmdal District Court. He was convicted of killing his wife, Anette Prydz Sjursen, 34, and their daughter May Elin, 3, at the family’s home in Gjerdrum in the early hours of 12 December 2024.