Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The couple's sexual exploitation case shocked Germany (faces blurred for legal reasons)

A woman who sold her son to paedophiles on the dark net has been jailed for 12 years and six months by a court in southern Germany.

The Freiburg court also jailed her partner, the boy's stepfather, for 12 years. The boy was nine when the trial began in June.

The German nationals, 48 and 39 years old, had sexually abused the boy themselves for at least two years.

The dark net is an internet area beyond the reach of mainstream search engines.

On Monday, the court jailed a Spanish man for 10 years for sexually abusing the boy repeatedly.

Five other men have also been prosecuted in connection with the abuse.

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

The boy is now living with foster parents.

The couple must now pay €42,500 (£38,000; $49,200) in damages to the boy and to a three-year-old girl, who was also abused by them.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The defendants (L and C): Faces are not shown because of strict German privacy law

What happened to the boy, who is now aged 10, shocked even experienced investigators, reports the BBC's Jenny Hill in Berlin.

Prosecutors say the boy was subjected to more than 60 serious sex attacks, many of which were filmed.

The case has horrified Germany, not least because the authorities - who knew that the mother's partner was a convicted paedophile - missed opportunities to rescue the boy, our correspondent says.

On Tuesday the judge told the boy's mother that she had carried out one of the most brutal sexual attacks.

The trial has also raised concerns that officials might sometimes wrongly presume that a woman is incapable of abusing her own child.

Authorities criticised

German media report that child welfare authorities in Baden-Württemberg state have been heavily criticised for failing to stop the couple's abuse.

The boy had been removed from the couple temporarily by social workers, but was then handed back to them.

Spiegel news website reports that welfare officers had not exchanged information about the case that could have led them to the couple's crimes.

According to case psychiatrist Hartmut Pleines, quoted by Spiegel, the mother's claim that she was in thrall to her partner when she committed the abuse was false.

She did not explain her actions, but her partner did speak a lot in court during the two-month trial, Spiegel reported.</s>The couple had been prostituting their son for years on the dark corners of the internet.

A German couple who sold their underage son to pedophiles on the Dark Web have been given prison sentences, The Guardian is reporting. Meanwhile, Germans are wondering how the abuse escaped the notice of authorities for so long.

The 48-year-old woman and her 39-year-old partner have not been identified by name and are referred to in the media only as “Berrin T” (the woman) and “Christian L” (the man). Their faces have also been obscured in photographs from the court proceedings.

The pair essentially operated a pedophile ring from their home in the city of Staufen, in the far southwestern corner of Germany, near the Swiss border. Using the so-called “Dark Web,” the pair sold the boy, now 10, to buyers who paid €10,000 (about $11,600) at a time to abuse the boy.

The Dark Web, for those not familiar, is a collection of websites and other services that are largely hidden from law enforcement and is only accessible via special software.

One man believed that the fee he paid entitled him to kill the boy, but he was stopped by Berrin.

Judge Stefan Bürgelin said that Berrin began selling the boy on the Dark Web because she feared Christian would leave her if she didn’t. However, after a while, says the judge, the woman got used to the money and continued selling the boy for abuse. The woman threatened the boy with being sent to foster care if he said anything.

In addition to selling the boy for sex online, the couple also repeatedly raped and abused the boy themselves. Additionally, according to BBC News, they abused a 3-year-old girl, although it is not clear if the girl was also sold online.

Berrin T was sentenced to 12 years, while Christian L was also sentenced to 12 years, plus a “preventative detention order,” which means that he will be in prison for the rest of his life. The couple were convicted of forced prostitution, rape, sexual and physical abuse, humiliation, and bondage in almost 60 separate identified acts.

The couple’s trial coincides with the trials of six other men also involved in the pedophile ring. They include a Spanish man, a Swiss citizen, and three German men; they’ve all been sentenced to between eight and 10 years.

The boy is now living in foster care.

Meanwhile, some Germans believe this case highlights failures in the country’s child welfare apparatus, who somehow failed to recognized signs of sexual abuse going on for years.</s>A German mother and her partner have been sentenced to prison for selling the woman's son, now ten years old, to pedophiles on the internet in a case that has horrified the nation. (Thomas Kienzle/AFP/Getty Images)

(CNN) — A German mother and her partner have been sentenced to prison for selling the woman’s son, now ten years old, to pedophiles on the internet in a case that has horrified the nation.

The couple were accused of repeatedly raping and abusing the boy from May 2015, and selling him online to other men for sex since 2016, a court in southern Germany said in a statement Tuesday.

The abuse was filmed, and police were alerted to the case and arrested the pair in 2017.

The 48-year-old woman was sentenced Tuesday by Freiburg state court to 12-and-a-half years prison, and her 39-year-old partner sentenced to 12 years. The court ruled that after serving his sentence, the man must also remain in preventive custody.

Several men, believed to be pedophile “clients” of the couple, have also been prosecuted in connection with the case. A Spanish man was also convicted.

The couple also sexually abused a three-year-old girl in 2015. The girl, who had mental health issues, had on several occasions been given to the 48-year-old woman by her mother to care for her.

The couple have been ordered to pay the boy 30,000 euros ($35,000) in compensation, and 12,500 euros ($14,500) to the girl.</s>A German couple have been jailed for selling their 9-year-old son to paedophiles for sex on the dark web.

The 48-year-old woman and her 39-year-old partner were also convicted of repeatedly raping the boy, now 10, and filming the abuse.

They were both sentenced to 12 years in prison in a case that has horrified the country.

The sickening abuse lasted for more than two years, the Freiburg state court heard this week.

A 33-year-old Spanish man who was offered the boy for sex by his mother was found guilty of repeatedly raping him.

The man, whose name wasn’t released for German privacy reasons, was sentenced to ten years in prison and fined €18,000 euros (£16,080).

He admitted paying the woman and her partner €10,000 euros (£8,930) to rape the boy multiple times in the town of Staufen in southern Germany.

Police arrested the couple last year after being tipped off by an anonymous person.

Three German men and one Swiss citizen have already been convicted in separate trials.

The Freiburg state court ruled that the 39-year-old man must remain in preventive custody after serving his sentence.</s>A German woman and her partner have been convicted and sentenced to years in prison for repeatedly raping the woman’s young son and selling him for sex on the dark net.

The woman was sentenced to 12 and a half years for rape, sexual abuse and forced prostitution after selling her son to pedophiles.

The court Freiburg also jailed her partner, the boy’s stepfather and convicted pedophile, for 12 years along with a preventative detention order.

The boy was nine years old when the trial began in June in a case that has horrified the country and raised questions about its child protection services in Germany.

The shocking details of the case, the worst of its kind in German criminal history, have triggered calls for an overhaul of Germany’s child welfare facilities.

Questions need answering like why there no attempt made to prevent the boy from living in the same house as a convicted pedophile.

BBC reports: The German nationals, 48 and 39 years old, had sexually abused the boy themselves for at least two years.

The dark net is an internet area beyond the reach of mainstream search engines.

On Monday, the court jailed a Spanish man for 10 years for sexually abusing the boy repeatedly.

Five other men have also been prosecuted in connection with the abuse.

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

The boy is now living with foster parents.

The couple must now pay €42,500 (£38,000; $49,200) in damages to the boy and to a three-year-old girl, who was also abused by them.

What happened to the boy, who is now aged 10, shocked even experienced investigators, reports the BBC’s Jenny Hill in Berlin.

Prosecutors say the boy was subjected to more than 60 serious sex attacks, many of which were filmed.

The case has horrified Germany, not least because the authorities – who knew that the mother’s partner was a convicted paedophile – missed opportunities to rescue the boy, our correspondent says.

On Tuesday the judge told the boy’s mother that she had carried out one of the most brutal sexual attacks.

The trial has also raised concerns that officials might sometimes wrongly presume that a woman is incapable of abusing her own child.</s>German couple jailed for repeatedly raping young son and selling him for sex

(SKY NEWS) – A German mother and her partner have been jailed for repeatedly raping the woman’s young son and selling him for sex online.

The woman, 48, who has been identified only as Berrin T, was sentenced to 12 years for rape, sexual abuse and forced prostitution at the Freiburg state court in southwestern Germany.

Her partner, Christian L, 39, was also sentenced to 12 years.

The court ruled that the man, who had a previous conviction for child abuse, must remain in preventive custody after serving his sentence.

The pair were accused of repeatedly abusing and raping the boy, who is now 10, and selling him to other men on the dark net for more than two years.

The couple and six others were arrested last year.

Several men have already been convicted in separate trials.

The couple has also been ordered to pay a total €42,500 (£38,000) 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, as the mother’s partner was supposed to be banned from having contact with children.

Officials took the boy out of the family in March last year, but a local court sent him back weeks later.</s>A woman who sold her son to paedophiles on the dark net for sex has been jailed for 12 years and six months by a court in southern Germany.

The Freiburg court also jailed her partner, the boy's stepfather, for 12 years. The boy was nine when the trial began in June.

Berrin T, 48, and Christian L, 39, are both German nationals, living in Staufen near Freiburg.

The dark net is an internet area beyond the reach of mainstream search engines.

On Monday the court jailed a Spanish man for 10 years for sexually abusing the boy repeatedly.

Five other men have also been prosecuted in connection with the abuse.

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

During the trial it emerged that the couple had sexually abused the boy themselves for at least two years.

The boy is now living with foster parents.

The couple must now pay €42,500 (£38,000; $49,200) in damages to the boy and to a three-year-old girl, who was also abused by them.

German media report that the child welfare authorities in Baden-Württemberg state have been heavily criticised for failing to stop the couple's abuse.

The boy had been removed from the couple temporarily by social workers, but had then been handed back to them.

Spiegel news website reports that welfare officers had not exchanged information about the case that could have led them to the couple's crimes.</s>Christian L, one half of the couple accused in the case, is led away by justice officers at his trial in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, on June 11. Getty Images pixelated the photo for legal reasons. Thomas Lohnes/Getty
• A German couple was jailed for raping the woman's son, and selling him to pedophiles for a two-year period on the dark net.
• They were found guilty of charges including rape and forced prostitution of the boy on Wednesday.
• Abuse of the boy was filmed, with footage showing him tied up and verbally abused.
• Several other men have been convicted in separate trials for sexually abusing the boy.
• The boy, now 10, was nine years old when the trial began earlier this year.

Warning: This post contains disturbing and graphic details.

A woman and her boyfriend have been convicted for the repeated rape of the woman's young son and for selling him for sex over the internet.

The German couple was accused of allowing multiple men they found on the dark net to rape and abuse the boy in exchange for thousands of euros over the period of two years, Deutsche Welle reported .

The dark net is an anonymous part of the internet that cannot be found with mainstream search engines.

They were also charged with more than 60 acts done toward the boy, which included extreme humiliation, physical bondage and rape. Some of the abuse was filmed, with footage showing the boy tied up and verbally abused.

A court in Freiburg, southwest Germany, found the pair guilty of rape, aggravated sexual assault of children, forced prostitution, and distribution of child pornography on Tuesday.

The boy, now 10, was nine years old when the trial began in June.

Defendants Berrin T, far left, and Christian L, far right, six with their lawyers in court on August 7. Pixelation done by Getty in accordance with court orders. Ronald Wittek - Pool/Getty

The boy's mother, identified as 48-year-old Berrin T, was jailed for 12 years and six months, while her partner, 39-year-old Christian L, was jailed for 12 years. German media typically refrains from revealing full names of people involved in ongoing criminal cases.

They were also ordered to pay €42,500 ($49,100) in compensation to the boy and another victim, a young girl.

The pair confessed to abusing the boy themselves as well as selling him to men online, Deutsche Welle said.

Christian told the court in June, when the trial started, that the boy's mother was the "driving force" behind the crimes, according to German news agency DPA. He denied the accusation that he had put pressure on his partner to allow her son to be raped.

Christian also has a previous conviction for child abuse, and must remain in preventative custody after his sentence.

Inside the courtroom that jailed the couple on Tuesday. Patrick Seeger/dpa via AP

The couple was arrested last year alongside six others. Several other men have been convicted in separate trials, including a 33-year-old Spanish man who was jailed on Monday for repeatedly sexually abusing the boy after he faced trial in the same court, the Associated Press reported.

Officials removed the boy from the family in March 2017, but a local court sent him back weeks later, even though the mother was supposed to be prevented from having contact with children.

The boy is now living with foster parents.</s>BERLIN – A German mother and her partner were convicted and jailed Tuesday for repeatedly raping the woman’s young son and selling him to pedophiles on the internet, abusing him for more than two years in a case that has horrified the country.

The Freiburg state court in southwestern Germany convicted the couple of serious sexual abuse of children, 21 counts in his case and 19 in hers. They also were convicted of rape, human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, forced prostitution and producing child pornography, among other offences.

READ MORE: Sacha Baron Cohen gives fake ‘pedophile detector’ test to Roy Moore

The 48-year-old woman, who has been identified only as Berrin T. in line with German privacy rules, was sentenced to 12 1/2 years in prison. Her partner, Christian L., was sentenced to 12 years. The court ruled that the man, who had a previous conviction for child sex offences, must remain in preventive custody after serving his sentence.

The pair were convicted of repeatedly abusing and raping the boy, now 10, and selling him to men on the darknet, an area of the internet that can be visited only by using special software. Some of the abuse was filmed.

The pair and six others were arrested last September. Several men have already been convicted in separate trials.

READ MORE: 750 cases of sexual abuse in schools, says Canadian Centre for Child Protection

The court said the pair met at a food bank in Staufen, near Freiburg, in late 2014. It said the mother was aware from the start of the man’s pedophile tendencies and previous conviction.

In the following months, the court said, the woman organized assaults on a 2-year-old girl she occasionally looked after. In May 2015, the couple started abusing the woman’s son, with the man at first offering the child cash.

The couple allowed four other men to sexually abuse the boy – among them a German soldier, a Swiss man and a Spaniard who admitted paying the couple 10,000 euros ($11,560) to rape the boy multiple times and was convicted in a separate trial Monday.

The mother was often near the scene of the abuse by other men “to exert a calming influence on her child,” and in the case of one client participated herself, the court said. The verdict was based on confessions by the pair and the videos of the abuse.

In Tuesday’s verdict, the couple was ordered to pay a total 30,000 euros (US$34,650) in compensation to the boy and 12,500 euros to the girl they abused previously.

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

Officials took the boy away from his mother in March last year following vague indications from police that he might be at risk, but a local court sent him back weeks later on condition that she not allow any contact between the child and her partner.

Police started investigating after receiving an anonymous tip in 2017.</s>BERLIN -- A German mother and her partner were convicted Tuesday over the repeated rape of the woman's young son and for selling him for sex on the internet. They were sentenced to prison in a case that has horrified the country.

News agency dpa reported that the Freiburg state court in southwestern Germany sentenced the woman, who has been identified only as Berrin T. in line with German privacy rules, to 12½ years in prison for rape, sexual abuse and forced prostitution.

Her partner, Christian L., was sentenced to 12 years. The court ruled that the man, who had a previous conviction for child abuse, must remain in preventive custody after serving his sentence.

The 48-year-old woman and 39-year-old man were accused of repeatedly abusing and raping the boy, now 10, and selling him to other men on the darknet, an area of the internet that can be visited only by using special software, for more than two years. The abuse was filmed.

The pair and six others were arrested last fall. Several men have already been convicted in separate trials.

In Tuesday's verdict, the couple was ordered to pay a total 42,500 euros ($49,100) 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 supposed to be banned from having contact with children. Officials took the boy out of the family in March last year, but a local court sent him back weeks later.
A German couple is jailed for twelve years each for selling the woman's son to a Spanish pedophile on the dark web, who repeatedly abused him. The couple themselves previously abused the boy and a three-year-old girl, whom they are ordered to pay €42,500 in compensation. The Spaniard is sentenced to ten years.