Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

CRIME

Drugs found in murder suspect’s coffee grinder

Norwegian police now think the ex-wife of a murdered chief executive drugged him before he was set alight inside his BMW, after they found traces of anaesthetic in her coffee grinder.

Published: 16 October 2013 09:24 CEST

Drugs found in murder suspect's coffee grinder

The site where Per Gunnar Asheim's BMW was found - JØRGEN BRAASTAD / VG

Investigators found the drug in the grinder Helena Asheim kept in her house in Tranby, just outside Oslo. The same substance has been detected in the body of her ex-husband Per Gunnar Asheim.

Police found Asheim dead on the 27th March, after a passing hiker reported finding the burnt-out car in a parking lot in the village. His ex-wife, who has always denied guilt, was arrested and charged the next day.

According to VG, police still do not know for sure whether 57-year-old businessman was alive or not when the car caught fire.

The wife's bank statements show that she bought matches and a can of diesel in the days before her husband's death.

The couple had been in the middle of a custody battle over their two children.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

Norwegian police charge Olympic champion's father for domestic violence

Jakob Ingebrigtsen and two of his brothers, Henrik and Filip, who are also athletes, shocked Norway last October when they accused their father of being violent.

“We grew up with a very aggressive and authoritarian father, who used physical violence and threats as part of his upbringing,” the brothers wrote in an op-ed for newspaper VG. “We still feel a sense of discomfort and fear that we have felt since childhood,” they added.

Police opened a probe into the abuse claims and on Monday said prosecutors had decided to charge Gjert Ingebrigtsen, 58, with domestic violence against one of his children.

According to a source close to the case, the acts in question do not concern the trio of known athletes but another, younger child.

Over a period of four years, from 2018 to 2022, Gjert Ingebrigtsen allegedly manhandled, insulted, threatened and hit the child in the face with his hand or with a towel.

Responding to questions from AFP, Therese Braut Vage, who led the investigation, would not confirm this account.

Police said they had closed investigations into other events concerning the six other children in the home either due to a lack of evidence or, in one case, because the statute of limitations having expired.

Gjert, who coached Jakob until after the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo — where Jakob won the gold — has always denied the accusations against him.

“As far as the dismissed cases, we agree that there is no evidence to prove that Ingebrigtsen committed any wrongdoing,” his lawyer John Christian Elden told AFP on Monday.

“For the rest, Ingebrigtsen disputes the description of the facts on which the indictment is based — and he therefore does not admit his guilt,” he continued in an email.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen is the most successful of the three brothers, twice winning gold in the world championships 5000m in 2022 and 2023, as well as the Olympic 1500m gold.

The 23-year-old is also preparing for the Olympic Games in Paris this summer.

Henrik, 33, and Filip, 31, were European champions in the 1500m in 2012 and 2016 respectively.

After breaking with his sons, Gjert Ingebrigtsen shocked Norwegian athletics by becoming the trainer of another runner, Narve Gilje Nordas.

The Norwegian Olympic Committee has said that Gjert will not be granted accreditation for the Olympic Games in Paris this summer, as was the case at last year’s World Athletics Championships.

Url copied to clipboard!