Dane Peter Madsen, sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Swedish journalist Kim Wall in a home-made submarine, was arrested Tuesday (October 20th) near Copenhagen after managing to escape his prison, AFP has learned with the authorities.
Read also: Danish submarine: Kim Wall, the Swedish journalist murdered in the line of duty
At first surrounded by the police on the outskirts of Albertslund prison on the outskirts of Copenhagen, the prisoner was finally arrested and "
evacuated
" at midday, Danish police announced on Twitter.
The police had previously confirmed to AFP his brief attempt to escape, which led him to a few hundred meters from the penitentiary center where he is serving his sentence.
Madsen claimed to have a bomb
According to Danish tabloid
Ekstra Bladet
, it took place around 10 a.m.
Peter Madsen allegedly threatened prison staff with a "
pistol-like
" object
and took a hostage before escaping.
According to witnesses quoted by the media, he was driving a white van when he was surrounded by police, a few hundred meters from the prison.
Read also: Journalist Kim Wall raped before being killed
He was not immediately arrested, however.
Before his arrest, he remained for a long time sitting in the grass and leaning against a row of trees, surrounded by two police officers lying on the ground, weapons pointed at the detainee, according to images broadcast by the media.
This long arrest was due to the fact that the fugitive claimed to have a bomb, according to them.
Peter Madsen, a 49-year-old inventor, was convicted in April 2018 for the murder of journalist Kim Wall, 30, when she came to interview him aboard his submarine in August 2017. During the trial, he admitted having cut the lifeless body of the young woman before throwing it in the Baltic, but maintained that her death was accidental.
Last month, however, he admitted his guilt for the first time in a documentary broadcast on Danish television.
"
There is only one culprit and it is me,
" he said.