52 GÄFGEN v. GERMANY JUDGMENT This evidence included the results of the autopsy as to the cause of J.’s death and the tyre tracks left by the applicant’s car near the pond where the child’s corpse had been found. The Regional Court further referred to corroborative evidence which had been secured independently of the first confession extracted from the applicant under threat, given that the applicant had been secretly observed by the police since the collection of the ransom and that his flat had been searched immediately after his arrest. This evidence, which was “untainted” by the breach of Article 3, comprised the testimony of J.’s sister, the wording of the blackmail letter, the note found in the applicant’s flat concerning the planning of the crime, as well as ransom money which had been found in the applicant’s flat or had been paid into his accounts (ibid.). 180. In the light of the foregoing, the Court considers that it was the applicant’s second confession at the trial which – alone or corroborated by further untainted real evidence – formed the basis of his conviction for murder and kidnapping with extortion and his sentence. The impugned real evidence was not necessary, and was not used to prove him guilty or to determine his sentence. It can thus be said that there was a break in the causal chain leading from the prohibited methods of investigation to the applicant’s conviction and sentence in respect of the impugned real evidence. 181. In the light of these findings, the Court further has to examine whether the breach of Article 3 in the investigation proceedings had a bearing on the applicant’s confession at the trial. It notes that, in his application before the Court, the applicant submitted that this had been the case. In his submission, he had not had any other defence option at the trial but to confess once the Regional Court, at the outset of the trial, had dismissed his request to exclude the real evidence obtained in violation of Article 3. 182. The Court observes in the first place that prior to his confession on the second day of the trial, the applicant had been instructed about his right to remain silent and about the fact that none of the statements he had previously made on the charges could be used as evidence against him (see paragraph 34 above). It is therefore satisfied that domestic legislation and practice did attach consequences to the confessions obtained by means of prohibited ill-treatment (contrast Hulki Güneş v. Turkey, no. 28490/95, § 91, ECHR 2003-VII, and Göçmen, cited above, § 73) and that the status quo ante was restored, that is, to the situation the applicant was in prior to the breach of Article 3, in this respect. 183. Moreover, the applicant, who was represented by defence counsel, stressed in his statements on the second day and at the end of the trial that he was confessing freely out of remorse and in order to take responsibility for his offence despite the events of 1 October 2002 (see paragraph 32 above). He did so notwithstanding the fact that he had previously failed in