Sister act confounds German prison

After 10 months inside the sister had enough

In a multi-faceted tale of fraud that has embarrassed the German authorities, the younger sister of a convicted woman managed to start serving a jail sentence on her behalf.

They really did look very similar

Dirk Blitz
Police spokesman

Officials at the Zweibruecken prison apparently failed to notice any difference between the 33-year-old and the photograph of her 37-year-old sibling featured in identity papers when she turned up to start the jail term.

It is thought that the younger woman had agreed to step in so that the older woman could stay at home to look after her four children.

Ten months later, however, it appears that sisterly love started to wear thin, and that the 33-year-old had tired of her task.

"She didn't come back from a short spell of leave she was allowed," police spokesman Dirk Blitz told BBC News Online.

"That's when we started to investigate, and we found out that she wasn't quite who she said she was."

Fraudulent family

New twists to the tale quickly emerged.

While the younger sister was in prison, the older was doing what she did best - committing a series of fresh fraudulent activities with her husband.

During this period, the 41-year-old husband was arrested.

But the court decided not to punish him with a jail term, noting that there would be nobody to look after his four children, as his wife was in jail - or so the judge assumed.

All three are now in custody, with jail terms looming.

The four children have been taken into in care.