The court in Norderstedt, near Hamburg, handed down the 22-month suspended sentence to Ralf-Werner D. after he was found guilty of trying to defraud his insurers. 

The 50-year-old man had qualified as an insurance salesman shortly before the 'accident' in February 2010 and took out four separate insurance policies – with special clauses covering finger injuries – for himself.

If valid, they would have paid out a total of €1.4 million.

Ralf-Werner claimed his finger and thumb were lost when he tripped and fell over his two dogs onto a circular saw.

But a medical expert said in testimony to the court that it was "particularly astonishing" that the rest of his hand remained relatively intact.

He added that the neat wounds to Ralf-Werner's hand were inconsistent with his story.

"There's a lot of evidence against the accused. There was too little blood on the saw. An automatic car was ready to go. That number of coincidences can't be real."

“The man sitting here is no fraudster,” his lawyer responded at the time.

But police said there was “very little blood” when they searched the basement for Ralf-Werner's missing digits.

His wife 'found' them outside in the snow a week later.