'Internet Cannibal' Sentenced To Prison

File this under the downside of computer dating: a German computer technician was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for dissecting and eating a victim he met on the Internet.

The bizarre case of the "Rotenburg Cannibal" initially came to light after an Austrian student found another posting by the defendant who was trolling the Internet. Armin Meiwes claimed he was only following the wishes of Bernd Juergen Amando Brandes, who was a willing victim, according to Meiwes. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3286721.stm

Brandes had replied to an online posting by Meiwes, who was seeking a young man for "slaughter and consumption," according to published reports.

According to the Reuters news service, a German court issued the life sentence after it overruled an earlier eight-year sentence that was deemed to be too lenient.

The macabre case has inspired a spate of songs and films. Macabre, a U.S. heavy metal band, based its "Wuestenfeld Man Eater" song on the case and German filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim has made a movie based on the case entitled "Your Heart in My Brain."