Violent shoe fetishist sent to psychiatric unit

An unemployed German man has been sent to a secure psychiatric unit after attacking seven women and stealing their high-heeled shoes to fuel his apparent fetish.

The 27-year-old, who was not named, was sentenced to four years and nine months behind bars and convicted of seven counts of theft and four of causing bodily harm.

Police said the man would sneak up behind his victims in Bonn and nearby Cologne in 2008 and 2009, then push them to the ground and flee with their shoes.