GERMANY: Germany lost its collective appetite yesterday after police arrested a man who has admitted killing a friend and eating him in front of a running video camera.
The man, a 41-year-old computer programmer identified only as Armin S, apparently invited a 42-year-old Berliner, identified as Bernd-Jürgen B, to his home in Rotenburg near Kassel last March.
The accused supposedly mutilated a private part of the victim by mutual agreement because they wanted to eat it together, the gruesome police statement revealed yesterday. Then Armin S fatally stabbed his victim several times in the neck, cut up his body, devoured some and stored other parts of the body in his freezer.
Police found human flesh and skeletons in the house yesterday and began watching tapes of the killing which a spokesman called "a unique crime in German history".
Police believe the two men came in contact through an Internet advert.
One newspaper said the text of the advert read: "Seeking well-built 18-30 year-olds to slaughter".
Police arrested the man after he placed a personal advert on the Internet, apparently seeking another victim.
German tabloids had a field-day with the story yesterday, comparing the killer to the fictional cannibal Hannibal Lecter, who, in The Silence of the Lambs, recalled devouring a census-taker's liver "with fava beans and a nice chianti".
Neighbours said they never noticed they were living next door to an alleged cannibal.
"It was kind of clear to us that he had a different perspective on life than we did," one neighbour told German television.
"But he was a normal person, to speak to, drink a glass of beer with - just like you and me."
