German man poisoned baby food and put it back on supermarket shelves in bid to extort money

Defendant sentenced to 12 years in prison after threatening retailers with demand for £8.8m

The incident led to a nationwide alert (File photo) (Getty Images)

A man has been convicted of attempted murder after he poisoned baby food and put it on shelves of supermarkets in Germany.

The 54-year-old, who has not been named, intended to use the poisonings to extort money from retailers.

He sent emails threatening the supermarkets saying he would poison food unless he was paid €10m (£8.8m).

The man then poisoned five jars of baby food at shops in the city of Friedrichshafen before alerting authorities to the crime.

The actions let to a nationwide alert that food had been tampered with and safety checks were increased as a result.

Officials located the jars before any were sold and found that they contained ethylene glycol, a compound used in anti-freeze.

The food jars contained enough of the odourless toxic liquid to kill a child, prosecutors said.

DNA on the jars and surveillance footage led them to the suspect.

The man claimed he had borderline personality disorder and had consumed alcohol and painkillers at the time of his actions.

His defence was rejected by the court after a psychiatrist concluded he was well enough to be held responsible for his crimes.

He was sentenced to 12 years in prison at Ravensburg state court, according to German news agency DPA.

Agencies contributed to this report