A couple in Germany have been jailed for more than 12 years each for the repeated rape and abuse of the woman’s ten-year-old son, and for forcing him into prostitution.

In one of the most disturbing child sex cases ever heard by the German courts, the 48-year-old woman and her partner were found guilty of selling the child to paedophiles over the internet on almost 50 occasions.

They were also found guilty of filming themselves raping and sexually abusing the child and distributing the video to paedophiles over the “dark net”, the unregulated part of the internet.

The woman, named only as Berrin T under German privacy laws, was sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison.

Her 39-year-old partner, named only as Christian L, was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He has a previous conviction for child sex crimes and was ordered to be kept in indefinite preventive detention after completing his sentence so that he cannot harm any more children.

Six other defendants have also been sentenced to lengthy prison terms for sexually abusing the woman’s ten-year-old son, who has not been named under child protection laws. The couple were also convicted of the sexual abuse of another child, aged three.