Detlef Guenzel, 56, goes on trial today accused of killing Wojciech Stempniewicz, 59, before cutting his body up and burying it in his garden

A German police officer who is accused of killing a man he met on a forum for cannibals before dismembering his body goes on trial today.

Detlef Guenzel, 56, is accused of strangling Polish-born businessman Wojciech Stempniewicz, 59, in the basement of his bed and breakfast before cutting up his body and burying it in the garden.

During the trial a video is due to be played which shows Gunzel in his underwear slicing the naked body of his victim into pieces while it hangs from a hook.

Described as 'absolutely horrific' and 'beyond belief' by lawyers, the 50-minute tape features Gunzel dismembering the corpse while pop music plays. At one point he stops to listen for a heartbeat before continuing.

Prosecutors claim that Guenzel strangled Stempniewicz before the grisly mutilation took place, while defence lawyers say the video proves the victim hanged himself.

While police acknowledge the two met on a forum for cannibals, described online as 'the #1 site for exotic meat', they say no evidence of cannibalism could be found.

Instead the indictment against Guenzel cites 'satisfaction of sexual lust' as a motive in the killing.

He could face 15 years in prison if convicted on charges of murder and 'disturbing the peace of the dead' by the court in the eastern city of Dresden.

According to investigators Guenzel met Stempniewicz for the first time on a forum for cannibalism fetishists in October last year.

During the trial a 50-minute video will be shown in which Guenzel mutilates the naked body of Stempniewicz while it hangs by a hook wearing nothing but his underwear

The two kept in contact via email, text message and telephone before finally arranging the fatal date for November 4.

Gunezel picked Stempniewicz up at Dresden's main railway station and drove him back to his house in Hartmannsdorf-Reichenau which he ran as a bed and breakfast with his male partner.

Police cannot prove that Guenzel ate any of his victim, but say that his genitals have never been found

Prosecutors allege that Gunezel then took his victim to the basement where he strangled him using a rope tied to a pulley before chopping the corpse up into small pieces.

However the defence team argue that the video shows Stempniewicz had his feet in constant contact with the ground, meaning he could have stopped the strangulation if he had wanted to.

Gunezel then spent a total of four hours cutting the body up with a knife and saw, before burying it in shallow holes the garden.

Officers traced him via computer messages and telephone calls and he was arrested at the police HQ where he worked as a handwriting specialist.

When police arrived at the property he showed them where the pieces were buried, but officers say the victim's penis has never been found.

The case mirrors that of Armin Meiwes, a man found guilty of killing, dismembering and eating computer technician Bernd Brandes at his remote farmhouse home near Kassel.

Meiwes, now serving life imprisonment, packaged the flesh of his 16-stone victim into neat parcels which he froze and ate portions of over a ten month period.

When police finally arrived to arrest him there was less than 40lbs of Brandes remaining.

Guenzel's trial is expected to last until November. His partner, who has since left him, will be among the witnesses scheduled to appear.