A Greek court on Thursday sentenced to life imprisonment a German man who killed his girlfriend and kept her corpse hidden in their apartment for two months, the Athens News Agency reported Thursday, according to dpa. The court in the northern port city of Thessaloniki sentenced Michael Ernst, 47, to life following his arrest last February in the small town of Asprovalta, located just east of the city. According to reports, police discovered the decomposing body of Ernst's 54-year-old German companion laid out on a bed in the apartment they shared, surrounded by flowers, dolls, and stuffed animals. The woman, a retired postal worker from the city of Dusseldorf, had apparently been dead for two months when police made the discovery and her body had been washed with bleach and perfume to disguise the smell. The couple had been together since 2001 and had moved to Greece in April 2006. Police said the couple were both alcoholics and frequently quarrelled. The woman's died after a vicious fight with Ernst, who severely beat her and left her to slowly die from her wounds over a period of 24 hours. A coroner said she had several broken ribs and had suffered from chronic liver disease. Over the two-month period following her death, Ernst was apparently withdrawing small amounts of money from her retirement fund. The Greek panel of four jurors and three judges rejected arguments presented by his defence that Ernst was mentally unstable and was not in full control of his actions.
