Fake German doctor who coaxed women to electrocute themselves jailed

A man who impersonated a doctor in order to persuade women and girls to electrocute themselves has been jailed for 11 years in Germany, officials say.

The 30-year-old, named only as David G, offered victims money to take part in fake pain therapy experiments for his sexual gratification, prosecutors said.

He watched and recorded the victims on Skype as they used homemade devices connected to mains electricity.

David G was found guilty of 13 cases of attempted murder at a court in Munich.

Prosecutors told the court that the IT worker from the Bavarian city of Würzburg posed as a doctor while searching for young women online to take part in a fake scientific study.

They said he then contacted his victims, offering up to €3,000 ($3,325; £2,560) to participate.

He convinced them to attach devices to mains electricity before shocking themselves while he observed via Skype, prosecutors added.

The youngest girl was just 13 years old, prosecutors said.

Judge Thomas Bott said David G had instructed his victims to place metal objects near their temples, “meaning that the human brain was subjected to an electric current”, Germany’s Deutsche Welle newspaper reported.

Prosecutors said they believed David G derived sexual gratification from his crimes.