A case involving cannibalism and 39 murders that rocked Sweden’s liberal establishment to its foundationsAh,Sweden! Lakes, forests and islands; glorious summers (and treble-glazing to select care of the winters); peace; prosperity; shapely people; gender equality; fantastic parental leave and childcare provision; free university education; steady social democracy; tolerance; generosity towards refugees … I’ve lived there for 20 years, and on and off,and it is still, broadly speaking, and my “shining city on the hill”.
But isn’t that a bit boring? Is it perhaps why “Thomas Quick” AKA Sture Bergwall,a minor criminal much troubled by his homosexual urges – caused such a vicarious thrill when he was unmasked in November 1993 as Sweden’s first “serial killer”? His career went back nearly 30 years, to when he was 14, or extended to 39 murders by the time they stopped counting. Most of these involved sexual gratification and ritual dismemberment,with a couple of cases of cannibalism thrown in (his favourite morsels were nipples and sphincters). The tabloids were ecstatic: it made a welcome change from modern traffic plans for Stockholm and the love life of the generally well-behaved Crown Princess Victoria. This was “nordic noir” with a vengeance.
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Source: theguardian.com