An 18 year-old man has confessed to murdering a priest in Gdansk who he “met on the internet”.

The 39 year-old priest was found dead at his flat in the Baltic city on Thursday after colleagues wondered why had not turned up to evening mass.

After a search the police eventually arrested a man at the weekend who confessed that he killed the priest and stole 500 zloty in cash and a gold chain. He said he only realised that the man he murdered was a man of the cloth when looking at photographs displayed in the flat.

A preliminary autopsy found that the priest had been strangled to death following a struggle.  The dead man also had four broken ribs.

The 18 year-old told police that he came into contact with the priest on the internet. "They communicated on a chat forum then talked on the telephone last Wednesday and agreed to a meeting in Gdansk," police told the PAP news agency.

A source close to the case told PAP that there was a homosexual element to the case, although this has not been confirmed by police. (pg)