Updated – Dec 19, 9:30pm

The Copenhagen Police are reporting this evening that convicted ‘Amager Attacker’ Marcel Lychau Hansen had planned to prove his innocence by conspiring with an unnamed individual to smuggle his biological material out of the jail cell where he is being held on remand. The material, reputed to have been in the form of semen, was to be spread at the scene of a new rape of a random woman, which was to be carried out by the co-conspirator.

Hansen had consistently maintained his innoncence, arguing that the matching DNA results were due to the existence of a person sharing his exact genetic profile.

According to the police, the plot to spread Hansen’s genetic material at the scene of a crime conducted while he was still incarcerated was to have supported this defence. (km)

Original story follows

Friends and family members described the 46-year-old Marcel Lychau Hansen as a completely normal family man – a football coach for over 15 years, a father of two sons, a steady employee at the Copenhagen Airport, and a good son.

But on Monday morning, following six weeks of testimony and evidence, the six jury members and three judges at Copenhagen City Court found Hansen guilty of a series of sadistic crimes perpetrated against women over a period of 23 years. Until Hansen was arrested in November 2010, and identified as the alleged ‘Amager Attacker’, those crimes, and the man responsible for them, had spooked the Greater Copenhagen area.

During closing arguments in court last week, it was Hansen himself who said that, “the person who did these things must be sick in the head, a psychopath who hates women.” But Hansen, who pleaded not guilty to all the charges, maintained that that person was not him.

The jury and judges disagreed, however. In their decision, they emphasized that the one-million-to-one DNA evidence identifying Hansen as the attacker in several of the cases was overwhelming. Besides those DNA matches, the jury noted that a handprint found at the scene of a violent rape at a college dormitory in Amager, and a shoe print found in the apartment of a 73-year-old murder victim, also both pointed to Hansen.

More than 50 witnesses, including several of Hansen’s victims and their family members, testified against him, and their testimonies were also “believable”, said the judges and jury.

Hansen was found not guilty on just one count, with the jury concluding that the evidence was insufficient to convict him of the sexual assault and near-strangulation of a 47-year-old woman who was walking home from a wedding party in Vangede, north of Copenhagen, in 2007. In that single case, the DNA-evidence matching the perpetrator to Hansen was only a 2,200-to-one match.

All the seats were removed from the courtroom on Monday to accommodate the standing-room-only crowd that gathered to hear the verdicts. Some of HansenÂ’s victims and their family members were among that crowd when the court read its decision. Many cried and hugged each other as the guilty verdicts were read out. Also in the courtroom were Hansen’s sons, his sister, brother, and other relatives.

Hansen shut his eyes and shook his head when the verdicts were read. Later, as a judge read the reasons for the decisions, Hansen stared fixedly at the table where he sat.

Sentencing is scheduled for Thursday.

FACT-FILE | ‘Amager Attacker’ crimes

GUILTY  Murder and robbery of 73-year-old Edith Louise Andrup in Valby in 1987. HansenÂ’s former friend testified that he bought a gold bracelet, inscribed with the name ‘AndrupÂ’, from Hansen shortly afterwards. Later, the friend heard about the murder and put two and two together. A shoe print matching HansenÂ’s was found at the scene. Hansen was questioned by police in connection with the murder, but released when his girlfriend provided an alibi.

GUILTY  Attempt to set Edith Louise AndrupÂ’s apartment on fire to destroy evidence, thus endangering the lives of the other building residents.

GUILTY  Rape and murder of 42-year-old Lene Buchardt Rasmussen in AmagerÂ’s Fasanskoven forest in 1990. A school friend tipped-off police in 1990 that he had seen Hansen in Fasanskoven around the time of the murder, but police did not follow up. DNA evidence found on RasmussenÂ’s clothing was discovered to be a one-million-to-one match to Hansen – but the match was not made until Hansen was identified in a later rape in 2010.

GUILTY  Rape and sexual assault of three teenage girls between the ages of 14 and 15 and one 23-year-old woman over the course of several hours in a house in Amager in 1995.

GUILTY  Rape and sexual assault of a 24-year-old university student in her dormitory in Amager in 2005. A handprint on the wall of her dorm was found to be a perfect match to Hansen, while DNA-traces on a milk carton in the studentÂ’s refrigerator were also a one-million-to-one match to Hansen.

NOT GUILTY  Violent sexual assault and near-strangulation with a belt of a 47-year-old woman in Vangede in 2007. DNA evidence on the womanÂ’s skirt was a 2,200-to-one match to Hansen. The woman was only able to identify her attackerÂ’s green Adidas sneakers.

GUILTY Rape at knifepoint of a 17-year-old girl in an allotment in Amager in September 2010. DNA evidence in a condom found 50 meters from the rape scene was a one-million-to-one match to Hansen. Moreover, the condom, which had hearts on it, matched a box of condoms stored in a high kitchen cabinet at Hansen’s home. Investigators matched the batch numbers on the condom found near the rape scene with those in HansenÂ’s home and were able to determine that they came from the same box.