Meet the online goat that will take away all your sins

Ever fancied an app in which you could make all of your sins disappear and sacrifice an imaginary goat into the process?

Well now you can do just that – but it might help if you're Jewish.

eScapegoat is that very app, and it recreates the Biblical ritual where a high priest would symbolically transfer the community's collective sins onto a goat on Yom Kippur.

That sin-laden 'scapegoat' would then be sent off into the wilderness to die, which absolved the community's sins for the year. 

The app was designed by San Franciscan Sarah Lefton last year, in an attempt to attract people to Judaism.

Users are given a 120-character form in which to write their sin, which is then anonymised and tweeted at @SinfulGoat.

Last year, the virtual scapegoat was laden with 8,500 sins and this year’s figure is expected to be similar when Yom Kippur begins later today.