Gunman Gokmen Tanis should be jailed for life for the murder of four people and the attempted murder of two more in a commuter tram in Utrecht in 2019, the public prosecution department has said.

Tanis has admitted to opening fire on the passengers on March 18 last year, killing four people and wounding several others in what the prosecution department considers a terrorist attack.

The public prosecution office said the defendant, who it acknowledged has a personality disorder and limited mental capacity, was nevertheless able to plan his deeds in advance and should therefore be handed the maximum penalty.

There is very little chance Tanis will be ever be released as he has shown no remorse or insight into what he has done, the prosecutor said. In addition, the danger of him committing another terrorist attack is ‘sky high’.

Tanis was removed from the courtroom on two occasions during hearings earlier this week, once for spitting on his lawyer and giving the finger to the judge.

He only spoke to insult one of the victims when she said ‘Gokmen, you have not defeated me’, to which he answered ‘that is a shame’.

Currently in the Netherlands, life sentences mean just that, but cases will be assessed after 25 years for possible release.

There are currently around 30 prisoners serving life sentences in Dutch prisons, including several gangland murderers and Mohammed Bouyeri, who murdered filmmaker Theo van Gogh in 2004.