A Maltese man who lives in the US was sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to the aggravated manslaughter of a young man found dead in a burning vehicle in September 2010.

Dennis Catania, 51, was sentenced together with 28-year-old Diana Camacho, who received nine years in connection with the kidnapping and death of 23-year-old Ross Heimlich.

In July, Ms Camacho pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and agreed to testify against Mr Catania, who admitted to aggravated manslaughter the following day.

Mr Catania must serve 21 years and three months before becoming eligible for parole.

A third defendant, Damien Leo, from Philadelphia, had pleaded guilty to manslaughter last year and agreed to testify against the other two.

Mr Catania and Ms Camacho had fled New Jersey, where they lived, shortly after the man’s death. They were caught after a year in Cuba and faced murder charges in the US.

The prosecution office in the US had told Times of Malta that Mr Catania was facing life imprisonment without the possibility of parole if found guilty of kidnapping and murdering the young man who had had an affair with his girlfriend. It is believed that Mr Heimlich and Ms Camacho had an affair sometime before his death.

They worked together at a Target store in Voorhees for about six months before the Camden County College student’s remains were found in his torched car in a parking lot.

He had been missing from Voorhees for a day when the police and firefighters put out the blaze.

An autopsy determined he had been struck on the head.