A 35-year-old Austrian man put his hands under a train so his fingers would be severed and he could collect an insurance pay-out, according to prosecutors in Austria.

The suspect, a former false fingernail designer, told police he was riding his bicycle when he lost control and rolled down an embankment onto rail tracks just as a train was passing. He lost a thumb on one hand and an index finger and a pinky on the other.

But the man's lawyer, Karl Wampl, dismissed the idea that he would intentionally have mutilated himself in that way, arguing he could have used a power saw rather than risk death.

If convicted, he may face ten years in jail.