Inventor gets life for horror murder on sub
A DANISH inventor has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering a Swedish journalist on his home-made submarine.
Kim Wall’s dismembered body was found in Copenhagen last year after she visited Peter Madsen for a trip on the 40-tonne UC3 Nautilus.
Madsen, 47, frequently changed his version of events but always denied murder.
At first he claimed he had dropped Miss Wall, 30, off on the shore and did not know what had happened to her, but later said she had accidentally hit her head on the submarine’s hatch so he buried her at sea.
He then insisted she died of carbon monoxide poisoning, and he had to chop up her body to get her out of the 56ft sub.
But Judge Anette Burkoe and two jurors at Copenhagen City Court ruled yesterday that Miss Wall’s death was murder.
She said Madsen had not given a ‘trustworthy’ explanation of what happened to Miss Wall, and had ‘shown an interest for the killing and maiming of people and has shown an interest for impaling’. The court had been shown videos from his computer and phone showing the murder, torture and impalement of women.
Police who examined his mobile phone said it showed he had watched a beheading video shortly before he took Miss Wall out in the submarine.
Madsen’s lawyer said he would appeal against the conviction and sentence of life without parole. He said Madsen should be acquitted of murder and sentenced instead for cutting up Miss Wall’s body. In Denmark, a life sentence is usually 16 years, but it can be extended.
Madsen and Miss Wall, who had written for publications including The New York Times and Time magazine, left Copenhagen on the sub at 7pm on August 10 so she could interview him about his plans for space exploration. He was rescued from the sinking vessel the next day, after police believe he scuttled it.
He claimed he had put her ashore safe and well at 10.30pm that day, but changed his story after her mutilated torso was found on a beach on August 21 by a cyclist. Her other body parts were found at sea by Danish police on October 6.
Jakob Buch- Jepsen, prosecuting, claimed Miss Wall’s
‘An interest in impaling’
murder was sexually motivated and premeditated because Madsen brought tools he normally did not take on the sub, including a saw and sharpened screwdrivers.
He said: ‘There is no doubt that he murdered Kim Wall on purpose and that he has a sexual motive. It is uncertain whether Peter Madsen murdered Kim Wall by strangulation or cutting of the throat, but there is nothing that sows doubt about whether he killed Kim Wall on purpose.’
During the trial the court was shown images of Miss Wall’s mutilated body.
The cause of death has never been established. But Madsen, who had been a minor celebrity in Denmark, admitted dismembering Miss Wall, telling the court it was a ‘very, very traumatic event which I do not want to describe’.