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THOMAS QUICK

‘Bones’ in serial killer trial were wood and glue

A forensic examination has shown that charred bones used as evidence against convicted serial killer Thomas Quick were in fact pieces of wood and glue mixed with other synthetic materials.

'Bones' in serial killer trial were wood and glue

Osteologist Ylva Svenfeldt, an independent researcher specialising in the analysis of cremated Iron Age skeletal remains, was deeply critical of the testimony provided against Quick by two professors in 1988.

“If you’ve worked with burned bone material you can immediately see that this is not bone. I can only interpret this as scientific fraud,” she told newspaper Aftonbladet.

During the investigation into the murder of the 9-year-old Norwegian girl Therese Johannessen, professors Per Holck and Richard Helmer concluded that the small particles presented as evidence were “most probably from a human, probably from a younger person.”

The conclusion that the bones were human was based on an ocular inspection, meaning the professors analysed the material only by looking at it.

But a fresh analysis by the National Laboratory of Forensic Science (Statens kriminaltekniska laboratorium – SKL) concluded last month that the remains were not human.

“This was one factor, among many, which secured the conviction of Quick for the murder. I would like to add that it was not without significance,” senior physician Björn Ericson told news agency TT in March.

Therese Johannessen’s mother has slammed the Swedish police investigation as “a scandal” and argues that the police have been arrogant and have not considered the possibility that there could be further suspects other than Thomas Quick.

“This is a victory for me. It is now proved that these (the claimed bone samples) did not come from Therese. I have fought for this for a long time,” she told the Norwegian newspaper VG last month.

Christer van der Kwast, the prosecutor in the trials against Quick, has previously said it is too early to draw any new conclusions regarding the forensic evidence.

But Quick’s lawyer Thomas Olsson countered that the “bone fiasco” was symptomatic of the slipshod nature of the investigation.

“Several scientists have put their reputations on the line to have Quick convicted,” he told Aftonbladet.

Thomas Quick, who has changed his name to Sture Bergwall, has retracted all previous confessions and is petitioning for retrials in all cases against him.

Quick was convicted in six different trials for the murders of eight people. During police questioning, he confessed to committing more than 20 murders, which he claimed he committed in Sweden, Norway, and Finland.

The Local reported in December that Quick had been granted a retrial in the case of the murder of 24-year-old Yenon Levi, an Israeli tourist who was found dead near the side of a deserted forest road in Dalarna in 1988.

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ITALY

French police snare ‘Valentine’s Day Monster’

An Italian serial killer nicknamed the "Valentine's Day monster", whose escape from prison in Genoa this week triggered a huge manhunt, was caught Friday on the French Riviera, police said.

French police snare 'Valentine's Day Monster'
French police snared an Italian serial kiler on Friday on the Riviera coast. Photo: AFP

Bartolomeo Gagliano went on a murder spree in the 1980s, killing two prostitutes and a transvestite and seriously injuring another sex worker, for which he served years in a criminal psychiatric ward.

At the time of his escape on Wednesday, he had been serving time in prison in the northwestern Italian town of Genoa for a hold-up.

French police said he was detained on Friday afternoon in the southeastern French city of Menton after Italian authorities launched a manhunt for a man they described as "very dangerous" and "possibly armed".

Gagliano was spotted in Ventimiglia, an Italian border town, and fled on the motorway to France in a stolen vehicle.

Police found the parked car in Menton, and detained him as he was heading back to the vehicle.

Gagliano escaped while on temporary leave from prison to visit his mother – leave he had been granted for good behaviour. 

Italian media gave him the nickname of "Valentine's Day monster" because he killed the transvestite on the day that celebrates love.

According to Italy's ANSA news agency, Gagliano had also been convicted for robbery, drugs and weapons possession, aggression and extortion.

He had already escaped from a psychiatric hospital in northern Italy in 1990, and a month later shot his girlfriend in the chin and fled the scene, the agency said.

She was found lying nude on a bed, with underwear at her neck to try to stop the bleeding, surrounded by pornographic material, it added. Gagliano later returned to the hospital.

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