An evil bouncer who murdered a British heiress and was sentenced to 18 years and six months in prison has had his appeal that it was a ‘sex game gone wrong’ finally rejected by a Swiss court.
Anna Reed, 22, was found dead in her luxury hotel room after lover Marc Schatzle, 33, begged staff to call paramedics because she had “turned blue,” but it was all part of his effort to cover his tracks.
At his trial in the Swiss city of Lugano in 2021, the court heard he had used Anna’s credit card to lavishly spend money after admitting that he “loved the finer things in life.”
Then the jury was told that he had met Anna in Thailand in February 2019 and that she had paid ‘£50,000 to him’ to pay for hotels, restaurants and clothes during their time together.
She was in the Far East after her father Clive gave her a round the world ticket as a gift for her 21st birthday and she also inherited £250,000 from her mother who died in a domestic accident in 2016.
Schatzle (left with Anna before she died) and his defense team claimed she died in a sex game gone wrong and asked that the conviction be changed to manslaughter – which would have meant a lesser prison sentence
German Marc Schatzle, 30, who has tattoos all over his body, including one over his left eyebrow that reads “Warrior,” was ordered to stand trial on charges of the April 2019 murder of 22-year-old Anna Reed , and on charges of fraud and theft
Prosecutor Petra Canonica Alexakis previously slammed Schatzle, pictured, saying he had lied for three years and his claims of a sex game gone tragically wrong were baseless
Anna and her sister Millie, now 28, grew up in posh Harrogate, North Yorkshire
Burly Schatzle harshly claimed that Anna died when he wrapped a towel around her throat during consensual sex in the bathroom of their five-star hotel La Palme au Lac in picturesque Locarno in April 2019.
At his first trial, he was initially given 18 years by judge Mauro Ermani, who dismissed him as a “liar” and added that Schatzle was a “dangerous man.”
An appeal last October earned him an extra six months and a second and final request from his legal team has now also been rejected, MailOnline can exclusively reveal.
In the 7,000-word verdict obtained by MailOnline, the Federal Court in Locarno dismissed his claims, describing them as “merely its own interpretation of events, without contesting the original conclusions of the trial.”
It added that his version of what had happened the night Anna died was an “inadmissible theory without any evidence” and was “rejected as such.”
A telling paragraph in the document read, “The force used by the suspect on the victim’s throat was clearly superior to that used in the field of erotic asphyxia.”
Marc Schatzle (pictured left with Anna Reed), who murdered British heiress Reed (pictured left and right) and received 18 years in prison, attempted to appeal his conviction by insisting she died in a sex game gone tragically wrong
At his appeal hearing last October, Schatzle described in court how the couple had returned to their hotel at 2 a.m. after spending the night drinking in several bars.
He said he tried to hide “her credit card” as a “joke” in a roof space of the elevator light, but it had “slipped behind a panel and he couldn’t retrieve it.”
Heavily tattooed Schatzle told the hearing that he and Anna, from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, practiced rough sex.
He told the court, “Anna loved erotic asphyxiation. She asked me to do it. I used a towel and my hands, I thought everything was fine and then I saw her with her tongue out.
“Her face was funny and there was a bruise on her neck. I tried to wake her up. I resuscitated her and then I went downstairs to get help.’
The court ruled that once his sentence is served, Marc will be deported and unable to enter Switzerland for 14 years instead of the original 12, meaning he cannot visit his child
The jury was told that Marc had met Anna, pictured before her death, in Thailand in February 2019 and that she paid him £50,000 to pay for hotels, restaurants and clothes during their time together
Schatzle callously claimed that Anna died when he wrapped a towel around her throat during consensual sex in the bathroom of their five-star hotel La Palme au Lac (pictured)
But District Attorney Petra Canonica Alexakis slammed father-of-one Schatzle, saying he had “lied for three years and that his claims of an ‘accident and a sex game gone tragically wrong’ were baseless.”
“He is a murderer and the first trial confirmed this. The first trial did not believe it was erotic play and an accident,” she said.
There is nothing to confirm his version of events and he has refused to cooperate with investigators from the start.
“Had things gone as he claims, his attitude would have been considered different, but there is no indication that he and Anna Reed practiced erotic asphyxiation or sadomasochism.”
Ms. Canonica Alexakis highlighted how the telephone cable in their room had been pulled from the wall by investigators and Schatzle had insisted it was already broken.
But she added: “We know that’s not true because he ordered room service from the front desk, and this was confirmed by the hotel staff.
“Instead he ripped the cable, maybe trying to call Anna or maybe he did it to keep her from calling for help.”
She also emphasized that Schatzle had no wounds from Anna, as she weighed only 55 kg compared to his 105 kg and had a light build and her fingernails were short.
Ms Canonica Alexakis added: ‘Anna hated liars and she hated being lied to and the night she died she had learned what kind of man Schatzle was.
She had been warned about him by a previous boyfriend after he was tipped off by an ex-girlfriend of Schatzle’s, who said he manipulated and used her, lying continuously.
“The night Anna died, there was no sex play and no attempted prank by hiding her credit card in an elevator.
“She died as a result of an intentional gesture and the medical report revealed a wound to her gums consistent with a hand placed over her mouth.”
Anna was described in court as ‘beautiful and rich’, with Ms Canonica Alexakis saying Schatzle had ‘only seven francs in his account and twenty francs in his wallet’ on the fateful evening.
She continued, “But he knew that a Visa card that Anna had loaded was 25,000 Swiss Francs, which may not seem like much, but for a man who has nothing, it was enough to flee the country.
“That’s why after he killed Anna, he started faking the scene. He hid her credit card in the elevator for later retrieval because we know guests in the hallway heard heavy footsteps that morning.
He placed her body in a bath of warm water to delay the time of death, but the paramedics were suspicious when they arrived because of the color and texture of her skin.
Schatzle waited to sound the alarm, maybe two hours because he wanted to take the time to save his own ass.
‘He simulated an accident in the bathroom before sounding the alarm, but let’s not forget how he sounded the alarm when he took the lift to reception.
“In that situation, wouldn’t you run down the stairs instead of eating in front of the elevator?” And people noticed that he had taken the time to tie his shoelaces and get dressed.’
Ms Canonica Alexakis added: ‘Anna was definitely uninhibited when it came to sex, but she wasn’t into rough sex or erotic smothering. Her friends and ex-boyfriend confirmed it.
Schatzle wasn’t into sadomasochism or rough sex. Two of his ex-partners have confirmed this. He’s the only one who says they were, but we all know he’s a liar.’