“It would appear that every proprietor and editor of every publication that has paid for intrusive and exploitative photographs of her, encouraging greedy and ruthless individuals … has blood on their hands today,” noted Lord Spencer following the death of his sister Diana in 1997.
And it would appear that not much has changed in the world since then, as the media – along with a lying childcare worker and the New York Police Department – have another victim on their hands: the former Danish pedagogue Malthe Thomsen, who was falsely accused of sexually violating 13 children at a Manhattan kindergarten in June 2014.
Thomsen was found dead in his college room at the European Film College in Ebeltoft on Saturday. He was just 27 years old.
Episode destroyed his soul
The cause of death is believed to be a blood clot to the heart, Thomsen’s mother Gitte Thomsen has confirmed to DR.
However, she believes that the episode in New York ultimately destroyed his soul.
“His soul had flown long ago, and now his body has given up. He has paid the ultimate price,” she told DR.
Insomnia, depression, lack of energy
Since spending time in the notorious Rikers Island jail in the US, facing charges that were eventually dropped in November 2014, Thomsen had suffered from insomnia, depression and an all-round lack of energy.
Thomsen went on to sue the authorites, winning only 500,000 kroner in compensation despite demanding millions, before pursuing a case against the female colleague who made the original false accusation against him – a case that was settled out-of-court in June 2018.
Thomsen had told DR he was “relieved” following the settlement, but now it would appear the damage caused by years of fighting to clear his name had left its toll.
The lying colleague, the bent cops, the gutter tabloid
Along with his lying colleague, who reported the Dane to the police after she made a similar claim at the kindergarten and was fired, the NYPD also lied during its interrogation of Thomsen, informing him they had video evidence of him molestating children.
The New York Daily News can also hang its head in shame. In 2014, it put an image of Malthe Thomsen on its front page, describing him as a “sex monster”. Shortly afterwards, Thomsen received death threats inside Rikers Island jail.
