81-year-old confesses to German cold case murder of US tourist in 1994

The court was packed for the first day of the trial on Tuesday, an indication of the notorious nature of the murder in the Koblenz area of western Germany.The defendant entered the courtroom with a walking frame and, after his defence counsel said he admitted carrying out the crime, the presiding judge asked him to confirm that was the case, and he said "Yes".Although an expert psychiatric opinion commissioned by prosecutors considers the suspect to have been criminally responsible at the time of the crime, a final opinion will not come until the end of the trial.A verdict is expected early next month.Four years ago a trace of DNA was detected on fragments of skin found on the victim's trousers because of improved forensic techniques.However, there had been little movement in the case for decades, until Koblenz authorities set up a special cold-case investigation team last year. There had been repeated appeals to the public and the case was even highlighted last year on a national TV unsolved crime show.Although several leads emerged from the programme, it was only when police began taking saliva samples from volunteers that they made an arrest at a residential home near Koblenz. Prosecutors spoke of a clear DNA match for one of the traces.Asked why Hans S had provided a sample, his lawyer told German news agency DPA that the case had "weighed heavily" on him and he had wanted closure.