Portugal Colonial - German serial killer found guilty of murder of French schoolboy

Martin Ney, dubbed "the man in black", was handed another life sentence for the murder and kidnapping of Jonathan Coulom, who disappeared at a school holiday camp in western France.

The 55-year-old, who has always denied the charges, listened impassively as the court in the city of Nantes handed down the verdict.

The boy's bed was empty when his roommates woke up in a dormitory at the seaside camp in Saint-Brevin-les-Pins.

More than a month later Jonathan's body was found weighed down by a concrete block in a pond near the town of Guerande, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from where he had disappeared.

A cord was tied around his neck, feet and hands.

His family burst into tears when the sentence was announced on Thursday.

"Justice has finally been done for our son. He will now be able to rest in peace," Jonathan's stepfather told the press.

"We finally know the truth," said Catherine Salsac, a lawyer for the boy's mother.

Ney, who wore masks and balaclavas during his attacks, had already been jailed for life in Germany in 2012 after he confessed to killing three boys aged 13, eight and nine between 1992 and 2001.

- Inmate's testimony -

In the first weeks of the search for the missing boy in France, German authorities informed French investigators that the circumstances of his disappearance resembled those of several child abductions and murders attributed to a suspect nicknamed the "man in black".

Ney was arrested in 2011. Although he confessed to murdering three boys, he denied abducting the boy in France, claiming he had not been in the country at the time.

"I have revealed everything I had to reveal. The Jonathan case is not part of it," said Ney, who was accompanied by an interpreter throughout the trial.

No DNA evidence was found to link the Bremen native to the French boy's murder.

A key witness in the investigation was a former fellow inmate who told the court on Monday that Ney had confessed, confiding to him that he had also been seen at the time of the events by a man accompanied by a dog.

Those statements echoed the testimony of a farmer who had claimed years earlier that on an evening in April 2004, he had encountered a man driving a sedan with German licence plates.

On Tuesday, a psychological expert testified that the defendant displayed no evidence of a psychotic disorder, that he was intelligent, "controls what he says" and shows "few emotions".

During the trial, the presiding judge read out posts dating back to the 2000s on an online forum for paedophiles as evidence.

A.Santos--PC