An appeal court upheld a lower court ruling that sentenced...

An appeal court upheld a lower court ruling that sentenced a jobless man to death for murdering a couple, stealing more than 8 million yen worth of their valuables and setting fire to the victims' home in Tochigi Prefecture.
The Tokyo High Court dismissed an appeal filed by Isamu Hirano, 55, against a Tokyo District Court death sentence.
"The defendant's crime was malicious and grave as is shown by the fact that he set fire to the victims' home to cover up the murder. The death sentence is unavoidable," Presiding Judge Fumio Yasuhiro said as he handed down the ruling.
In December 1994, Hirano sneaked into the home of the 72-year-old operator of a stock farm where he had once worked, and stabbed the operator and his 68-year-old wife with a knife, according to the ruling.
He then stole 560,000 yen in cash and about 77 million yen worth of jewellery, before pouring kerosene on the floor of the home and torching it in a bid to destroy evidence, the judge ruled. The house was burned down in the fire.