Inventor admits ‘sawing up’ journalist

PETER MADSEN, the Danish inventor, has confessed to sawing off the head and limbs of Swedish journalist Kim Wall and also changed his story about how she died on board his submarine, Copenhagen police said yesterday.

Mr Madsen, 46, now maintains that Wall died from carbon monoxide released into the submarine, while he steered unawares from the conning tower, investigators said. He continues to deny murdering her.

“This explanation has naturally caused the police to collect various additional statements from both the forensics and submarine experts,” said Jens Møller Jensen, a deputy police inspector who is leading the investigation.

On Sept 5, Mr Madsen told a court that the 30-year-old had been killed when a metal hatch crashed on to her head, fracturing her skull. But when her head was found in Køge Bay, south of Copenhagen, on Oct 6, it showed no sign of such a fracture.

The journalist set off with Mr Madsen in his self-built submarine on the evening of Aug 10. She had been planning to write a magazine feature on Madsen, who was hoping to build a rocket capable of sending a man into suborbital space. Police also announced that eight days in March and April have been set aside for Mr Madsen’s trial.