MAN RAPED BOY, 13, IN FRONT OF FAMILY BEFORE STABBING THEM ALL TO DEATH...

A man who raped a 13-year-old boy in front of his family before stabbing them all to death has been jailed for life. He torched the family’s home to cover up what’s been branded the most horrific murders in Switzerland’s modern history.

The 34-year-old, known only as Thomas N because of Swiss privacy laws, set his sights on 13-year-old Davin Schauer in the town of Rupperswil, and began stalking his family.

He waited for Davin’s father to leave the house on December 21, 2015, and tricked his way inside.

Once in, he tied up Davin, his brother Dion, 19, and Dion’s 21-year-old girlfriend Simona.

He then forced their mother Carla, 48, to go to the bank and withdraw money. When they returned, he tied her up and began raping the boy in front of them.

He then took out a knife and slit all their throats. Firefighters found their blackened remains inside the home. The horrific murders rocked the nation and sparked a massive hunt to find the killer, including the highest-ever reward – £75,000 – for information leading to his arrest.

Thomas N evaded the police for five months before the reward was offered, and when he was finally caught, he confessed immediately.

Sentencing him to life in prison, Court President Daniel Aeschbach said: ‘Thomas N acted in a primitive, cold-blooded manner, showed no capacity for empathy and was extremely egoistic.

The danger of a repeat offence is high, he committed a textbook crime, and acted in an utterly ruthless manner.’

However, the court reportedly left open the possibility of parole after 20 years.

‘What he did was simply grotesque. He was fully aware of his actions and it was a deliberate act,’ the judge added.

Prosecutors said child pornography was found on computers at his home, and they believed he was targeting two other families in the same neighbourhood. Investigators found the names of 11 boys aged between 11 and 14 written in his notebook.

He was dubbed the ‘Beast of Rupperswil’ by Swiss media, and after the murders, prosecutors said he went home, took his mother and dogs for a walk and later met colleagues at a restaurant in Zurich.