The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Inventor who built submarine admits dismembering journalist
A Danish inventor has admitted dismembering a Swedish journalist who disappeared from his submarine, but says he did not kill her, police in Denmark said.
Copenhagen police said Peter Madsen now says Kim Wall died as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning inside the submarine when he was on deck.
Officers said he has acknowledged he dismembered her body and threw it into the sea. Investigators have found bags containing her body parts and clothes.
Ms Wall, who was working on a story about Madsen, was last seen aboard his submarine as it left Copenhagen in August. The next day, Madsen was rescued from the sinking submarine without her. Police believe he deliberately sank the vessel.
Madsen had previously said Ms Wall died after being accidentally hit by a heavy hatch in the submarine’s tower.
Police said Madsen has admitted he threw the body into Koge Bay, south-west of Copenhagen.
Ms Wall’s torso was found on a southern Copenhagen coast in late August, and her head, legs and clothes were found at sea this month. No fractures to her skull were found that would have supported the claim that she was killed by the hatch.
Madsen’s pre-trial detention is set to expire today but police said no new hearing will be held as the 46-year-old has voluntarily agreed to remain in detention.