Cannibal faces retrial to rule if killing and eating were murder

Meiwes, a computer repairman, was sentenced in January 2004 to eight and a half years for manslaughter, but the supreme court ruled last April it was too lenient and ordered a retrial.

The bizarre case of sexual fetishism and gory details of the crime have transfixed the public in Germany and beyond, while legal experts have argued over the definition of murder.

In a dark suit, and thinner than at his first trial, Meiwes, 44, listened again to prosecutor Marcus Koehler's description of his crime.

He sat without obvious emotion, though he later exchanged smiles with his lawyers.

He has admitted killing Bernd-Juergen Brandes, a Berlin-based computer specialist, but was spared a murder conviction and a possible life sentence as the victim had yearned to be eaten.

Germany's top criminal court said the first trial court had ignored the fact that Meiwes had filmed the killing for later sexual gratification, a fact that could tip the scale in favour of a murder conviction.

His defence team countered that Meiwes had merely acceded to his victim's wishes and that his crime was only "killing on request", a form of illegal euthanasia that carries a maximum five-year sentence.

Harald Ermel, defending, acknowledged his client had a "fetish for human flesh", but said he was no longer a threat.

"Under the same circumstances he would never do something like that again," he said.

Mr Koehler told the court Meiwes brought Mr Brandt to his home in Rotenburg, central Germany, in March 2001. In a "slaughter room" fitted out with butcher's bench, meat hook and cage, Meiwes severed Mr Brandt's penis and they tried to eat it.

"Due to the consistency of the penis, this did not succeed, either raw or fried," Mr Koehler said.

When Mr Brandt fell unconscious, Meiwes slit his throat, pulled out his organs and chopped off his head. The next day, he froze portions of his flesh, eating some 44lb of it over the following months.

"He [subsequently] watched the video of the killing of Brandt for his sexual pleasure," Mr Koehler told the court.

Psychiatrists found Meiwes deeply disturbed but sane.

Meiwes's lawyers pointed out that he had earlier released four other people who changed their minds at the last minute and drove Mr Brandt back to the station in the town of Rotenburg after the victim initially appeared to lose his nerve.

Joachim Bremer, also for the defence, said Mr Brandt had made quite clear his intentions through e-mail, internet chat and telephone conversations about his wish to end his life.

"He made this clear to others and left no doubt about the seriousness of this desire," Mr Bremer said. The case continues.