Ashen-faced police watch home-made videos of Germany's online cannibal

There were no mourners present as a black hearse drew up yesterday morning in front of a half-timbered house outside the picturesque German town of Rotenburg an der Fulda.

Two men braved the icy wind as they carried out a coffin containing recently discovered body parts, which had been hidden around the house. Chunks of human flesh were found in the freezer and a skull was discovered in the garden.

Elsewhere, Christmas trees illuminated by fairy lights lit up homes in the town, and the smell of mulled wine wafted through the cosy alleys, where citizens still greet their neighbours on the street.

The 15,000 inhabitants of Rotenburg were in shock after a fellow townsman, identified as Armin M, confessed to cannibalism.

After the gruesome discovery by German police on Wednesday in Armin M's house, a spokesman for the state prosecutor in Kassel said: "There is hardly any evidence left. The accused admitted to consuming more or less everything. He only buried skin, bones and hair."

The victim apparently replied to an advertisement posted on the internet, which read: "Seeking young, well-built 18 to 30-year-old for slaughtering." He was a homosexual male, 41, from Berlin, identified as Bernd Jürgen Brandes. Like his murderer, Mr Brandes was a computer technician.

The influential German tabloid Bild ran the headline: "Cannibal Devours Berliner", a pun on the double meaning of the German word for a jam doughnut, a "Berliner".

Mr Brandes was apparently obsessed with being eaten alive after seeing the film The Silence of the Lambs in which Anthony Hopkins plays the serial killer and cannibal, Hannibal Lecter.

On 9 March 2001, having made his will, Mr Brandes left the luxury flat in Berlin he shared with his partner. Only a few neighbours remember him, and describe the employee of the telecoms giant Siemens as low-profile and withdrawn.

A colleague said Mr Brandes was a highly qualified professional but that on a personal level his behaviour was distant, impersonal and strange. He never spoke about his private life unless the subject turned to women.

Even less is known about Armin M. German police are studying 50 home videos he made. He allegedly shared a last meal of flambéed human sexual organs with his victim before carving him up and freezing the remaining body parts for later meals.

"The accused supposedly first cut off the penis of the victim by mutual agreement because they wanted to eat it together," one report in the German press said.

The video material is so shocking that even a hardened local police officer had to leave the room while viewing the tapes. He was quoted as saying: "I simply had to leave. I have never seen anything like it before. And I hope I will never ever have to watch something like this again."

Police say Armin M, who occupied just three rooms of the huge house he inherited from his mother, had placed 80 other advertisements on the internet. Five males had already replied.

Yesterday, only two days after thediscovery, new websites appeared on the internet with inquiries about the videos. One user named "Adolf" wanted to know where he could acquire them.

Another website offered graphic cooking instructions for the preparation of meals made with human flesh: "Pesto and lemon juice" was recommended.

Armin M is in police custody, and is regarded as capable of standing trial, said Kassel prosecutor Hans-Manfred Jung. Bild added: "For lunch he gets meat loaf and potato pancake."

It is Germany's second bizarre murder case this year after a young couple were jailed in January for killing a friend and stabbing him 66 times in a satanic ritual.