German couple who sold son to paedophiles on the dark web given jail terms

Man and woman convicted of repeatedly raping nine-year-old boy and filming the abuse

Christian Lais, left, and Berrin Taha, admitted to their crimes in court in Freiburg (EPA)

A woman and her partner have been jailed in Germany after offering her son for sex on the internet for more than two years.

Berrin Taha, 48, and Christian Lais, 39, were also convicted of repeatedly raping the boy, now aged 10, between May 2015 and August 2017.

​They sold sex with the boy on the dark web, an area of the internet that can only be visited with special software.

Freiburg state court sentenced the woman on Tuesday to 12 years and six months in prison and her partner to 12 years, after they admitted to their crimes. It ruled that the man must remain in preventive custody after serving his sentence.

The pair were accused of being part of a paedophile ring and six others were arrested last autumn.

A Spanish man was also jailed the day before for 10 years for repeatedly sexually abusing the boy.

The 33-year-old was also ordered to pay €18,000 (£16,091) to the victim.

The couple were found guilty of rape, aggravated sexual assault of children, forced prostitution and distribution of child pornography.

Video footage showed the boy being tied up and verbally abused.

In Tuesday’s verdict, the pair were ordered to pay a total of €42,500 in compensation to the boy and another victim, a young girl.

Local authorities have been accused of failing to protect the boy, who now lives with a foster family.

The mother’s partner was legally banned from having contact with children at the time of the abuse. Officials took the boy out of the family in March last year, but a local court sent him back weeks later.