“I can only apologise to everyone,” the 46-year-old father from the Eifel region, identified as Jörg P., told the court as the two-day trial came to an end.

During the court proceedings, an expert said that P. suffered pathological sex addiction. He will serve his time in a secure psychiatric facility.

“He can then only be freed when he is deemed no longer dangerous by experts,” spokesperson for the court Martin Machalitza said.

The man, a locksmith by trade, was tried for nine rapes or attempted rapes, but during the trial confessed to more than 20 rapes and 1,000 other sex offences, mostly indecent exposure.

In many of these incidents, Jörg P. pretended he could not move his arms in a “pity ploy” to lure women to help him urinate, whereby he committed the sexual acts.

The crimes, mostly indecent exposure, occurred between 1995 and 2010 in Krefeld, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Aachen, Venlo and Eupen, Belgium.

The accused said that he was dyslexic, and therefore got a “special kick” out of abusing well-educated women, using his tactic predominantly in university cities, targeting students, female doctors and psychologists.

Investigator Claudia Stickelbrock of the Krefeld police said P. had even committed sex crimes while on vacation with his wife and children near Lake Constance.

His wife has since filed for divorce, changing both her name and the names of their children.

“My client just wants to begin therapy as soon as possible,” his lawyer Thomas Ohm said, adding that he believed the man could be rehabilitated.

DAPD/DPA/ka