Paedophile freed for Dracula book

An American historian jailed in Romania for paedophile offences has been released more than two years early because he wrote a book about Dracula.

According to the law, Kurt Treptow was entitled to early release because his writing counted as work in prison.

He published a book about Vlad III Dracul, the Romanian prince who inspired the Dracula legend.

Mr Treptow had served nearly five years of his seven-year sentence for "sexual relations with minors".

His lawyer, Liviu Bran, denied that he wrote the book to get out of prison, saying that a board of historians had reviewed it and concluded it was an "original scientific piece of work".