A Dutch couple who went on a violent rampage through the Netherlands and Germany last year have been jailed for 16 and 12 years, by judges in Assen.

Antonio van der Ploeg and Enise Bercan, who were 25 and 19 at the time, were found guilty of a ‘a string of very serious offences’.

Van der Ploeg was jailed for 16 years, in line with the public prosecution department’s demands. Bercan was jailed for 12 years, two years less than the department wanted.

The court ruled the couple were guilty of attempted murder, theft, grievous bodily harm, kidnapping and blackmail.

‘They carried out a large number of very serious and very violent crimes in a short space of time,’ the court said. Several of their victims are still receiving treatment.

The couple were arrested in Germany after a cross-border police chase in February 2014. Dubbed the Dutch Bonnie and Clyde in the media, their crimes included a carjacking and shooting in Enschede, the kidnapping of a woman in Meppel and several break-ins.