Search for Funen paedophile goes nationwide

Calls for a national DNA registry gain momentum as police start to look outside of Denmark’s largest island for the man behind two sexual attacks on young girls

Police are now asking people from all over the country to call in to help locate the man who sexually assaulted two young girls in recent weeks on the island of Funen.

So far, authorities have received over 500 calls regarding the case and are still asking people to report anything strange they may have noticed.

“It could be anything from odd behaviour to unfamiliar circumstances,” Funen Police spokesperson Henrik Justesen told DR News. “We’re very aware that these sort of things are usually down to subjective observations, but we won’t discard anything.”

The police, who are into their fourth week of the manhunt, have confirmed that DNA samples taken from both victims confirm that the attacks were committed by the same individual. However Funen Police have yet to charge anyone with the crime.

All suspects will now be asked to supply investigators with their DNA through mouth swabs so that a match can be found as soon as possible.

Kurt Kargh, the former head of the country’s forensic taskforce Rejseholdet, has in turn called for a national DNA registry to be implemented so that future criminals can be brought to justice more quickly.  It’s an idea that Justesen is not opposed to.

“If we had catalogued people’s DNA, then this case would have been over a long time ago,” Justesen told the tabloid BT.

The first assault took place in southern Funen on October 26 when an 11-year-old girl was forced into the back of a car by a white male between the ages of 45 and 50, sexually assaulted and later released. The second victim, a 10-year-old girl, was abducted and attacked in a similar manner last week on Wednesday.




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