A pair of swinging German parents were left red-faced after a TV production company forgot to pixellate their faces during an on-screen romp, and their daughter discovered the sex clip online.

Their 15-year-old daughter clicked on a clip on RTL's website, only to be left flabbergasted as her mother and father appeared cavorting on the screen.

Her father was dressed as a very adult 'Batman' brandishing a sex toy and her mother was held hostage in a cage, wearing stockings and suspenders.

Her mortified parents took the company to court, claiming that the company's failure to obscure their identity had caused their daughter emotional damage, reports Munich newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung.

However the judge, though sympathetic, decided against awarding the large amount of compensation they had applied for. Instead, he gave the couple £160 each and ruled that the television company should pay their legal fees.

"I understand your feelings and I would not like to be in your shoes," said the chairman of the ninth Regional Court in Munich.

Believing the production company's mistake to be an honest one, he decided that since the couple had agreed to be in the video there was no cause for compensation. If they wanted to appeal the decision, they would have to bring their daughter in to testify.