Forty-six-year-old Costas Soteriou was on Tuesday sentenced to 28 years in prison at the court on the British base of Dhekelia for the murder of Charalambos Constantinides.

He was handed a “life sentence with a minimum of 28 years” by the court.

Soteriou had in January been found guilty of premeditated murder, and he will now serve his sentence either in the British bases prison in Dhekelia, or in the United Kingdom.

He had shot Constantinides in the head with a hunting rifle in June last year after the pair had reportedly been engaged in an argument over money.

After the shooting, Soteriou handed himself into the Dhekelia police station.

Speaking after the sentencing, British bases police chief inspector Fanos Christodoulou said the sentence “was achieved due to the excellent cooperation between the bases’ police and the bases’ attorney-general’s office”.

“We are very pleased that Mr Constantinides’ family has seen justice served with this major sentence. Nothing can ease the pain of losing a loved one, but at least the perpetrator of this crime has been handed a long prison sentence for this horrific crime,” he said.