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CRIME

Danish father killed his four kids and wife before committing suicide: police

The investigation into six dead bodies found in a house in the village of Ulstrup on Monday has pointed to a likely murder-suicide, police said on Tuesday night.

Published: 11 January 2017 08:58 CET
Danish father killed his four kids and wife before committing suicide: police
A flag flies at half mast in the Ulstrup neighbourhood where the family tragedy took place. Photo: Henning Bagger/Scanpix
East Jutland Police wrote in a press release that investigators believe a 45-year-old man murdered his wife and four children before killing himself. 
 
The victims were the man’s two sons, aged 3 and 11, two daughters, aged 6 and 16, and his 42-year-old wife. 
 
“Based on the information available in the case, it is the police's initial assessment that the four children and the 42-year-old woman were all killed by the 45-year-old man, who then took his own life,” police wrote. 
 
The police update ruled out previous media speculation that the six deaths were the result of a gas leak. 
 
“There is nothing at present indicates that gas was the cause of the deaths,” police added. 
 
Favrskov Municipality officials said that its crisis teams would once again be on hand at the victims’ school and daycare institution. 
 
“We are deeply affected by what happened and we send our condolences to those affected. Tomorrow [Wednesday, ed.] we will stand by ready at the daycare and school with care and support for [the victims’] friends,” the municipality wrote on its website. 
 
A torchlight procession in support of the family will be held on Thursday evening in Ulstrup, which is located about 20km southwest of Randers in central Jutland. 

CRIME

Danish government backs removing children from gang-connected families

Denmark’s government wants authorities to be able to move children out of families in which parents are gang members and is likely to formalise the measure in parliament.

Published: 9 April 2024 13:38 CEST
Danish government backs removing children from gang-connected families

The justice spokesperson with senior coalition partner the Social Democrats, Bjørn Brandenborg, told regional media TV2 Fyn that he wants authorities to have the power to remove children from their families in certain circumstances where the parents are gang members.

Brandenborg’s comments came on Monday, after Odense Municipality said it had spent 226 million kroner since 2009 on social services for eight specific families with gang connections.

“There is simply a need for us to give the authorities full backing and power to forcibly remove children early so we break the food chain and the children don’t become part of gang circles,” he said.

The measure will be voted on in parliament “within a few weeks”, he said.

An earlier agreement on anti-gang crime measures, which was announced by the government last November, includes provisions for measures of this nature, Brandenborg later confirmed to newswire Ritzau.

“Information [confirming] that close family members of a child or young person have been convicted for gang crime must be included as a significant and element in the municipality’s assessment” of whether an intervention is justified, the agreement states according to Ritzau.

The relevant part of November’s political agreement is expected to be voted on in parliament this month.

READ ALSO: Denmark cracks down on gang crime with extensive new agreement

Last year, Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard told political media Altinget that family relations to a gang member could be a parameter used by authorities when assessing whether a child should be forcibly removed from parents.

In the May 2023 interview, Hummelgaard called the measure a “hard and far-reaching measure”.

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