A GERMAN man has been sentenced to three years in prison for selling his partner as a sex slave to his neighbour for a crate of beer.

The bizarre deal between the 39-year-old man from Hersfeld-Rotenburg and his 60-year-old neighbour was revealed after a 32-year-old woman told police about her ordeal.

The court in Fulda established that the woman was forced by her alcoholic partner to have sex with the elderly neighbour for several weeks. The neighbour paid with a crate of beer for every visit.

The neighbour was sentenced to a two-year suspended jail sentence and a single payment of €2000 ($3463) to the victim.