A child killer’s hopes of a reduced sentence because a confession was forced out of him were dashed by German judges today.

A German law student charged with kidnapping and killing the 11-year-son of a prominent banker today failed to get the charges dropped because police had threatened him during interrogation.

The man suspected of murdering the heir to a Germany banking dynasty led a church youth group and headed a fan club of Frankfurt’s football team that the 11-year-old victim passionately supported, investigators said Wednesday.

The 11-year-old heir to one of Germany’s oldest banking fortunes who was kidnapped and found dead in a lake was probably strangled or drowned, prosecutors said today.