Thomas Quick was Scandinavia’s own Hannibal Lecter: a serial killer-cannibal-paedophile who was convicted of eight murders in just seven years. Or was he?
Quick, born Sture Bergwall, was a Swedish man who shocked police and the media when he confessed to multiple unsolved murders while receiving psychiatric treatment during the late ‘90s.
Quick was convicted of robbery in 1991, and after exhibiting violent behaviour was institutionalized at a psychiatric hospital. He was undergoing recovered-memory therapy when he made the confessions – a controversial and now-discredited form of psychotherapy.
Quick supposedly ‘recovered memories’ of committing around 39 murders between 1964 and 1993. There was no physical evidence or eyewitnesses, and some of his alleged victims were actually alive and well!
So why did authorities believe him? Even though details of his confessions were often wrong, Quick would read the body language of his interrogators to glean favourable answers. His incorrect guesses were never included in evidence given in court.
Quick also researched unsolved murders while on day release, and exploited gaps in knowledge between Scandinavian police forces to appear as though he knew secret details of the crimes.
Then, in a 2008 TV interview, Thomas Quick recanted all of his confessions, claiming he never committed any of the crimes.
An appeal was granted since the confessions were the only basis for conviction. Quick’s history of mental illness, as well as the prescription drugs and psychotherapy he was receiving at the time of the confessions were part of the reason that all of the eight convictions were overturned.
Quick, now using his birth name Bergwall, has since been released from psychiatric care.
Find out more about his confessions on this episode of RedHanded.
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