A husband accused of killing his wife and cutting her body into pieces is a classic narcissist who was too close to his mother, a court in Germany has been told.

Dock worker Walter Baumann, 46, is said to have butchered his wife Ekaterina, 32, and packed her body parts into a suitcase before throwing them into a river.

Now forensic psychiatrist Dr Marc Schroeder, 45, has told the court in Bremen that Baumann shows all the signs of a dangerous self-obsession.

He said: “The personal feeling of one’s own importance, egocentric, reduced empathy, the inner life self-centred, behaviorally arrogant and arrogant, and manipulative.”

Earlier the court had heard that Baumann had made more than 400 gruesome searches online to find the perfect way to kill his wife and get away with it.

One was a search for the ‘effects of acids on living tissues’ and another asked ‘what acid breaks down skin’.

Psychiatrist Schroeder said Baumann’s personality made it impossible to feel guilt or recognise that he had done wrong.

He said: “Anyone who commits the act because of a pathological mental disorder, because of a profound disturbance of consciousness or because of an intellectual disability or another serious mental disorder is incapable of recognising the injustice of the act or acts without guilt to act on that insight.”

But he warned Bremen District Court judges that Baumann should not be placed in a psychiatric ward.

He told how Baumann exhibited self-esteem-related problems, and said: “Narcissistic people often find narcissistic partners. And his wife had narcissistic parts.

“Then it crashes and nobody wants to give in.

“The relationship between Walter Baumann and his mother is also partly narcissistic. A healthy distance between mother and son is missing.”

Schroeder also explained that the victim struggled in dealing with people and commitment and added: “As a man with a narcissistic character, he was happy to step in to compensate for her deficits.

“Without a child, she was his princess, he did everything for her.

“When the child was there, it turned out that Ekaterina can not do this. So he had to continue and take care of both of them.”

Baumann is accused of killing and butchering his wife before dumping her body parts in the River Weser, Bremerhavenin February 2022.

The trial is ongoing.