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CRIME

Danish local politician found dead before attempted murder trial

A local politician in Denmark was found dead in his cell on Wednesday morning, shortly before court proceedings were scheduled to begin in an attempted murder case against him.

Danish local politician found dead before attempted murder trial
File photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

The case, against René Michael Fløe Kauland of the town of Greve near Roskilde, was due to begin on Wednesday.

But Kauland was found dead in his cell at Slagelse Jail. The death is to be further investigated, Central and West Zealand Police have confirmed.

“As the man has died, there will subsequently be no criminal proceedings against him in our police district,” spokesperson Martin Bjerregaard told Ritzau.

The neighbouring South Zealand and Lolland/Falster police force was informed of the death at 7:29am on Wednesday, the news agency writes.

A police duty officer did not wish to go into any detail relating to cause of death or when the local politician is thought to have died.

Kauland, 41, was charged with attempting to murder his former girlfriend and with assaulting her daughter on May 11th last year.

He was suspected of entering the woman’s bedroom, where she and her daughter were sleeping, carrying a blunt object and wearing a mask. He was accused of then beating the woman on the head and body with the object, also hitting the daughter.

“The death is very sad,” Henrik Stagetorn, who was defence lawyer in the cancelled trial, said.

“The case is closed in the sense that there will be no trial,” Stagetorn said.

Kauland was elected to the town council in Greve for the Venstre (Liberal) party in 2017, according to newspaper Ekstra Bladet.

READ ALSO: Denmark's courts hand out tougher sentences for rape, violence

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CRIME

‘More Danes than ever’ victims of digital crime

Almost 190,000 people in Denmark were the victims of IT-related crime in 2023, according to new figures.

'More Danes than ever' victims of digital crime

The number, released by the Danish Crime Prevention Council (Det Kriminalpræventive Råd) represents a significant increase on the previous year’s figure of 150,000.

Denmark’s justice ministry, national police and the University of Copenhagen all work with the Crime Prevention Council in an annual study which tracks the figure through contact with victims.

It represents a trend which is unlikely to slow down in coming years, according to the Council’s director Erik Christensen.

“Technological advances mean that there are more and more doors through which the criminals can walk in relation to scamming us normal members of the public,” he told newswire Ritzau.

The emergence of AI could make it even more likely that people become subjected to digital fraud attempts, he said.

The study found that online payments and abuse of payment information were most common types of fraud defined as IT-related.

But “contact fraud”, in which scammers contact targets by email, telephone or online, is also on the rise.

The figure for that specific type of crime went from 13,000 in 2022 to 47,000 last year.

READ ALSO: Danish courts issue warning over SMS scam

“Our best advice is that if each of us takes good time when we get an email or SMS… and check whether it is [actually] from the Tax Agency, municipality or bank,” Christensen said.

He also advised asking a family member or trusted person for a second opinion before answering any email or SMS, if in doubt.

In the most common type of IT crime – online transactions – some 85,000 people in Denmark last year lost money to scams such as fake web shops or trades with private individuals.

Another form – which hit 64,000 people – involves purchase of a fake or counterfeit item.

Some 76,000 people were victims of having their bank card details stolen and misused, some 19,000 more than in 2022.

“We must move away from shaming people who get scammed because anyone can fall victim to it. Even when you look at these numbers, we know there are also unreported cases,” Christensen said.

The Council director stressed the importance of victims of online fraud not feeling shame over what had happened.

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