A policeman has gone on trial for murdering his janitor best friend with a crossbow so that he could steal his pal’s wife after seducing her in an affair.

The body of janitor Karsten Manczak, 51, from the village of Gross Doehren in the German district of Goslar has never been found after he went missing on 14 April.

The father of two is presumed dead, with police believing he was murdered by his best friend with a crossbow before he then disposed of the body.

The accused, German federal police officer Martin G., whose full surname was not reported due to strict local privacy laws, first appeared before the Braunschweig Regional Court on Wednesday, 24th November.

The 50-year-old man, who worked at airports in Hanover, Braunschweig and elsewhere, is on trial for the victim’s murder.

The prosecution believes the defendant fatally shot the victim in the victim’s own garden so he could have the victim’s wife, with whom he had been having an affair, all to himself.

According to the prosecution, the weapon used in the crime was probably a Steambow AR-6 Stinger crossbow. However, the police have not yet revealed how they came to make this allegation.

The dead man’s wife, 50-year-old Katrin M., has since ended her affair with the policeman and, along with her two sons, is a co-claimant in the trial.

Evidence against the defendant includes traces of blood and scuff marks on the victim’s Volkswagen Caddy, which the defendant is believed to have driven the body away in.

Further evidence includes unusual purchases made by the defendant in the wake of the victim’s disappearance.

The purchases include 11 lawn pavers, 16 steel meshes, fence sections, concrete bases and several rolls of barbed wire from various hardware stores. Police have not revealed why or how these may have been connected with the man’s disappearance.

The victim was described as the defendant’s “best friend” in the German daily Bild.

The defendant and the victim’s wife had been having an affair since 2016, according to the prosecutor.

However, the woman was not allegedly interested in being his full-time partner or leaving her husband, with whom she had two children.

The defendant has so far remained silent during his trial. However, he previously told the police during questioning that he believed his friend might have been kidnapped.

The trial is ongoing.