Bielefeld (Germany), Aug 17 (DPA) A Turkish man was sentenced to life imprisonment Monday for brutally murdering his wife on New Year's Day, near the northwestern German town of Guetersloh.

The 27-year-old confessed to having stabbed his 18-year-old wife repeatedly and beaten her with a billiard cue, before driving over her three times. The woman, who was also his cousin, bled to death.

'You were the devil incarnate, who carried out this deed,' judge Jutta Albert said in response to a letter which the defendant wrote in prison describing himself as being posessed during the crime.

The prosecution said the husband had been driven by extreme jealousy.

Throughout the trial, members of the family of both victim and the accused had expressed anger, shouting abuse at the defendant. Several people were led outside before the verdict was pronounced.

The couple had wed through an arranged marriage in Turkey in 2007. However, the woman returned to her native Germany where she turned her back on her husband.

Albert said their ambivalent relationship had torn her up inside, while witnesses said the 18-year-old had said of her husband, 'He's an idiot. And he's annoying.'

The man eventually travelled illegally to Germany and the couple were reconciled, despite previous death threats he had sent her by text message from Turkey.