Braunschweig

Mr Busching gave evidence, but the court in Braunschweig acquitted Brückner and suddenly time was very short.

Brückner's defence team had argued he should be cleared because of a lack of evidence, although prosecutors had called for the court in Braunschweig in northern Germany to impose an additional 15-year jail term.

Brückner's trial is being heard by judges - not a jury - in Braunschweig, in the north-western state of Lower Saxony, because that was where Brückner was last officially registered.

Two of the charges against him have been brought by prosecutors in Braunschweig, close to Volkswagen's headquarters in the Lower Saxony town of Wolfsburg.

The man, named as Helge B, told the court in Braunschweig that he had picked up the videos when he broke into the Portuguese home of Christian Brückner, 47, who was a former friend.