A French court has sentenced a German serial killer known as the "masked man" to life imprisonment for the 2004 murder of a 10-year-old boy, French media reported on Thursday.
The court in Nantes found the 55-year-old guilty of murdering the boy, who was abducted from a school holiday camp in the western French town of Saint-Brevin-les-Pins in April 2004. The boy's naked body was found weeks later in a pond about 30 kilometres away.
Prosecutors had argued that the killing bore the "signature" of the defendant, who denied any involvement throughout the trial. His lawyers sought an acquittal, arguing there was no direct evidence placing him in France at the time of the crime.
Martin N, whose surname is withheld in Germany in line with the country's strict privacy laws, is already serving a life sentence in Germany for sexually abusing dozens of boys and murdering three children aged 8, 9 and 13 between 1992 and 2001 in northern Germany.
The former educator became known as the "masked man" or "the man in black" because he wore a dark balaclava while carrying out attacks on children, often approaching them at night.
After a years-long investigation, police identified Martin N with the help of a former victim, leading to his arrest in 2011. A German court sentenced him to life imprisonment the following year after he confessed to most of the offences.
For years, he worked as a supervisor at youth camps and children's homes while carrying out the crimes.
French investigators began examining him as a suspect in the 10-year-old boy's killing in 2008 after identifying similarities with the German crimes. No DNA or other forensic evidence linked him to the case.
However, prosecutors cited testimony from a witness who reported seeing a German-registered car near the pond where the boy's body was found, as well as a former inmate who said Martin N had confessed to killing a child in France.
