Swedish serial killer made it up

[Fisher]

Swedish serial killer who raped and ate his victims to be freed



He was once Sweden’s most infamous serial killer, a self-confessed cannibal who claimed to have murdered 30 people. But Sture Bergwall could soon be freed from a high-security psychiatric unit after prosecutors dropped the last charge against a man they now accept was a fantasist........

“That a person has been convicted of eight murders and later been declared innocent, that is unique in Swedish legal history,” said the attorney general, Anders Perklev. “It has to be considered as a big failure for the justice system.”

 

[TiredOfLife]

Swedish serial killer who raped and ate his victims to be freed



He was once Sweden’s most infamous serial killer, a self-confessed cannibal who claimed to have murdered 30 people. But Sture Bergwall could soon be freed from a high-security psychiatric unit after prosecutors dropped the last charge against a man they now accept was a fantasist........

“That a person has been convicted of eight murders and later been declared innocent, that is unique in Swedish legal history,” said the attorney general, Anders Perklev. “It has to be considered as a big failure for the justice system.”

The truth is still stranger than fiction I see.

 

[MaggieD]

Swedish serial killer who raped and ate his victims to be freed

He was once Sweden’s most infamous serial killer, a self-confessed cannibal who claimed to have murdered 30 people. But Sture Bergwall could soon be freed from a high-security psychiatric unit after prosecutors dropped the last charge against a man they now accept was a fantasist........

“That a person has been convicted of eight murders and later been declared innocent, that is unique in Swedish legal history,” said the attorney general, Anders Perklev. “It has to be considered as a big failure for the justice system.”

It's hard to believe the justice system could work like this. He withdraws his confessions, and, since the state couldn't prove the cases without his confessions, he's to be set free.

The only thing I can think of that would cause this would be that the investigators failed. They accepted what he said as truth without any corroboration of his confessions. IOW, show us where there's even one body...where are the murder weapons...where did you do it...questions that, if he answered, would either prove or disprove his stories. And if he didn't answer, might have led the coppers to disbelieve him.

Really sounds to me like the investigators went for the easy "case closed".

 

[Fisher]

It's hard to believe the justice system could work like this. He withdraws his confessions, and, since the state couldn't prove the cases without his confessions, he's to be set free.

The only thing I can think of that would cause this would be that the investigators failed. They accepted what he said as truth without any corroboration of his confessions. IOW, show us where there's even one body...where are the murder weapons...where did you do it...questions that, if he answered, would either prove or disprove his stories. And if he didn't answer, might have led the coppers to disbelieve him.

Really sounds to me like the investigators went for the easy "case closed".

Well truth be told, a lot of people get convicted in the US on their confession to police without which they likely would have never even been charged. The Courts just generally don't entertain "Woops I fibbed, What was I thinking" petitions 20 years later.

 

[TiredOfLife]

Well truth be told, a lot of people get convicted in the US on their confession to police without which they likely would have never even been charged. The Courts just generally don't entertain "Woops I fibbed, What was I thinking" petitions 20 years later.

Maybe the truth doesn't have a Statute of Limitations there?

 

[Fisher]

Maybe the truth doesn't have a Statute of Limitations there?

i think states are getting better about reversing convictions, but it is still hard to do. A lot of the barrier rules were crafted as a direct result of people who sit in prison and file petition after petition after petition and complaint after complain after complaint flooding the system with so much crap that the legitimate stuff very often would be drowned out by the boatloads of junk sitting on top of them. The problem for the system IMO is how do you craft a system that allows the good stuff to be considered properly and not subject yourself to reopening every case of every person sitting behind bars.

 

[TiredOfLife]

i think states are getting better about reversing convictions, but it is still hard to do. A lot of the barrier rules were crafted as a direct result of people who sit in prison and file petition after petition after petition and complaint after complain after complaint flooding the system with so much crap that the legitimate stuff very often would be drowned out by the boatloads of junk sitting on top of them. The problem for the system IMO is how do you craft a system that allows the good stuff to be considered properly and not subject yourself to reopening every case of every person sitting behind bars.

I never serve on a jury for one reason, the courts do not seek the truth, they simply applaud the better, usually better-paid, lawyer.

 

[DDD]

I wonder if the attention he needed so desperately by self proclaiming to be a cannibal and rapist would be worth it. Whether he pulled back his statement or not, people might always be distant from him from there on. Sounds like he is worse alone now than what he was before.

 

[Infinite Chaos]

Well truth be told, a lot of people get convicted in the US on their confession to police without which they likely would have never even been charged. The Courts just generally don't entertain "Woops I fibbed, What was I thinking" petitions 20 years later.

Pretty hard to confess to being a fantasist to a series of brutal murders 20 years later if the death penalty is in use..

While there may be egg-on-face for the Swedes, at least they didn't execute the guy wrongly.

 

[SayMyName]

It is causing quite a stir here. As of the last day or so, now he is saying he did one of them, maybe two. Either way, he probably shouldn't be released. In the end, it is a case that will no doubt leave Swedes seriously talking about how to come to grips when dealing with serious offenders instead of trying to be the vessel of virtue in Europe. It has only led to a higher crime rate, with women all the more insecure about leaving their homes at night than in previous decades.

 

[ChrisL]

I'd like to know what other evidence they're using to release this guy. What about his confessions? I'm thinking they must have been pretty convincing to get him convicted of 8 murders. Did he know details that know one else knew? It mentions one murder in particular where they couldn't determine the cause of death. Did this man know of this person? Lots of unanswered questions with this one.