Photo: CTV

A Crown lawyer has told a sentencing hearing in BC Supreme Court a repeat killer and gang enforcer is extremely dangerous and needs to go to prison for a long time.

The hearing in Vancouver is for Sheldon O'Donnell, a member of the notorious Greeks gang based in B.C.'s Okanagan, who was convicted of one count of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder.

While O'Donnell gets an automatic life sentence for the first-degree murder, Crown lawyer Peter Favell told a judge that he should consider a tougher parole eligibility for the remaining charges because O'Donnell might appeal the first-degree conviction.

Favell says O'Donnell killed Ronald Thom, David Marniuk and Thomas Bryce out of "occupational necessity," and that should be an extenuating circumstance in sentencing.

The trial heard Thom was killed because it was wrongly believed he was a police informant, while both Marniuk and Bryce were involved in drugs and got caught in the Greek's net.

O'Donnell is among five members or associates of the Greeks convicted for the murders. Two of his co-accused have already been sentenced to life in prison.