A small, bespectacled German immigrant who invented a glamorous life for himself in the US by posing as an heir to the fabled Rockefeller fortune was sentenced yesterday to 27 years to life in prison for a California cold-case murder.

A judge said that singer Chris Brown should continue to remain under the watchful eye of a probation officer as he works to complete the terms of his sentence for beating then-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009.