A man who repeatedly raped his sleeping wife and shared the footage on pornographic websites has been jailed for six years.

The trial took place at the regional court of the city of Bonn, located in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The man, who has not been named but who is reportedly 50 years old, was found guilty of repeatedly raping his wife, also unnamed but who is reportedly 46, and posting the footage of his deeds on pornographic websites, according to German daily Bild.

The wife was reportedly unaware of the attacks because she regularly took medication to treat severe sleeping disorders. She only realised what had happened after an argument during which the defendant threw his mobile phone at her and she found videos of the incidents on it.

The verdict determined that the now ex-husband – the couple are now divorced – had raped her six times between 2016 and 2018.

The wife said that it was like being raped all over again after she saw the footage on the pornographic websites, according to German outlet WDR.

She could not believe that so many people had viewed the videos and “liked” them.

The victim and her lawyer, Dagmar Schorn, are demanding that politicians make it harder for videos such as these to be uploaded to the Internet and shown on pornographic websites.

Schorn said: “These are rapes, which implies that the victim is incapable of resisting. I fear or predict that there may be some competition here: How does one get the most perfidious [footage], for example, of an underage girl in a state of incapacity?

“Because only the most perfidious rape brings me clicks.”