Interrogations-and-Confessions-Handbook

CHAPTER 23
Murder in Norway: a False Belief
Leading to a False Confession
This case provides a fascinating insight into the nature of a pressured–
internalized false confession and how it was elicited and maintained over a
period of several months. The case involved the conviction in November 1997
of a 20-year-old man for the murder of his 17-year-old cousin. It shows how a
highly intelligent young man without any mental problems was psychologically
manipulated during interrogation, and his confidence in his own recollection
devastatingly undermined, to the extent that he came to believe that he had
murdered his cousin, although he never developed any ‘memory’ of the murder.
His confession was the only salient evidence against him at trial in 1997 and
DNA evidence supported his claim of innocence. In spite of this he was convicted.
Such was the faith of the court in the police and confession evidence. I
became involved in the case in 1998 as a court-appointed expert by the Gulating
High (Appeal) Court in Bergen, after a re-trial had been ordered. The re-trial
was set for May 1998, and I testified in Stavanger, along with a Swedish police
psychiatrist who claimed that the confession was ‘true’. The psychiatrist had
assisted the police with the investigation of the case from January 1997, had
provided a psychological profile of the suspect, and subsequently became an
independent court-appointed expert in the case. The jury acquitted the young
man and he was released from prison. Subsequently evidence has emerged that
further supports the accused man’s innocence.
BACKGROUND TO THE CASE
In the early hours of the morning of 6 May 1995, a 17-year-old girl, Miss T, was
found dead by a land owner near a public road on Karmoy island, in Norway.
There were crushing injuries to the head and a 23 kilogram bloodstained stone
was found beside the deceased’s head. There had been about 10 blunt blows
to the head. There was also evidence of strangulation and suffocation. There
appeared to have been sexual interference, although no trace of semen was
found. Death was estimated to have occurred around 0100 hours. The victim
was last seen in Kopervik around 0010 hours. The distance between Kopervik