Copenhagen Police ignored a precise tip on the identity of the man now known as the ‘Amager Attacker’ 21 years ago, it has been revealed.
Mercel Lynchau Hansen, who is now being charged with two murders and seven rapes, was spotted by an old schoolmate near the scene of a killing in the Kalvebod Faelled Park in 1990.
Despite the witness phoning police and telling them Hansen’s name, they never returned the call or investigated the claim, even though they suspected him of a murder in the Valby district three years earlier.
Hansen is now being charged with both killings, as well as several rapes, one from as recently as September 2010, after his arrest last autumn. The witness who originally recognised him at the crime scene will finally be called to testify at the 46 year-old’s trial, which began this Wednesday.
Confirming that the tip had been ignored more than two decades ago, Svend Foldager, head of investigations for the Copenhagen Police, told the press, “It was unfortunately a mistake, if that is what happened. The name should have been noted down, and we should have contacted him. But now that it has come out, the witness can tell his story to the court.”