German cannibal killer allowed out of prison in disguise

A German cannibal who killed and ate a man he met through a personals ad is allowed to walk through towns in a disguise as part of a prison release program.

Armin Meiwes, 58, is serving a life sentence for the sickening crime, but is still allowed out of jail.

Meiwes is allowed sunglasses and a cap so he isn't recognised him as he walks through towns, German newspaper Bild reports.

"Two officers accompany him," a police investigator said.

"For security reasons we take him to another federal state. There he is allowed to walk through town."

Meiwes was convicted in 2006 for killing an eating Bernd Brandes, after they met through a personals ad five years earlier.

Meiwes wrote in the 2001 classified that he was looking for a "well-built 18- to 30-year-old to be slaughtered and then consumed", and Brandes responded.

Brandes took sleeping pills before Meiwes stabbed him to death, sliced him up on a butcher's table and ate him.

Meiwes said human flesh tasted like a stronger version of pork.

The case was a complicated one, because Brandes had consented to being killed and eaten.

Meiwes was originally sentenced to eight years jail for manslaughter, before a retrial saw him jailed for life for murder.

He is said to be a "model prisoner" and reportedly became a vegetarian in prison.