Berlin - A German court Thursday handed down a four-year jail term to a depressed landlord in the southern town of Bolsterlang who tried to blow himself up in his pub late one night last year.

The court dropped three charges of attempted murder, ruling the man had been so depressed, and so drunk, that he did not comprehend the danger to three other people in the house at the time.

The explosion, caused after the 65-year-old man opened an 11- kilogram propane bottle, wrecked the house, forcing its subsequent demolition.

The court found the man, who had previously attempted suicide in 2005, guilty of arson and of causing an explosion in July last year.

The court heard that he and his estranged wife had managed the pub in the town of some 1,000 inhabitants on the border with Austria and that their relationship was problematic.

In mid July last year, the man decided to end his life and caused the explosion in the pub. He told the court that all he could remember was a loud bang. He suffered severe burns to his hands and face.

Three people who lived in the building's attic found their escape route blocked by fire in the downstairs floor, but managed to descend by a ladder from a balcony. They suffered shock but no physical injury. (dpa)