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CRIME

Police catch serial burglar – by his earprints

A suspected German serial burglar has been betrayed by his ears, after he left prints of his aural cavities on the doors of dozens of houses and flats.

Published: 30 April 2012 08:49 CEST
Police catch serial burglar - by his earprints
Photo: DPA

The 33-year-old man has been in custody since being arrested after a December 2011 break-in. Police in the port city of Hamburg said on Sunday they had evidence to tie him to 96 break-ins and break-in attempts between July 2009 and July 2011.

The man stole jewellery, cash and electronic appliances, and is said to have caused a total of €500,000 in damages, but he made one fatal error: he reportedly left ear-prints on the doors while listening to see whether anyone was in.

The police said ear-prints are almost as unique as fingerprints, and so are almost as important as evidence, but they have the advantage of being rarer. Most crime-scenes are covered with fingerprints of innocents people.

Police added that they also have fingerprints and DNA evidence from various burglary scenes linking them to the man.

DAPD/bk

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GERMANY AND ISRAEL

Germany in talks on further payout for 1972 Olympics victims

The German government says it is in talks over further compensation for victims of the attack on the Munich Olympics, as the 50th anniversary of the atrocity approaches.

Published: 28 July 2022 09:04 CEST
Germany in talks on further payout for 1972 Olympics victims

Ahead of the commemoration in September, relatives of the Israelis killed have indicated they are unhappy with what Germany is offering.

“Conversations based on trust are taking place with representatives of the victims’ families,” a German interior ministry spokesman told AFP when asked about the negotiations.

He did not specify who would benefit or how much money had been earmarked, saying only that any package would “again” be financed by the federal government, the state of Bavaria and the city of Munich.

On September 5th, 1972, eight gunmen broke into the Israeli team’s flat at the Olympic village, shooting dead two and taking nine Israelis hostage, threatening to kill them unless 232 Palestinian prisoners were released.

West German police responded with a bungled rescue operation in which all nine hostages were killed, along with five of the eight hostage-takers and a police officer.

An armed police officer in a tracksuit secures the block where terrorists held Israeli hostages at the Olympic Village in Munich on 5th September 1972.

An armed police officer in a tracksuit secures the block where terrorists held Israeli hostages at the Olympic Village in Munich on 5th September 1972. Photo: picture alliance / dpa | Horst Ossingert

The spokeswoman for the victims’ families, Ankie Spitzer, told the German media group RND that the amount currently on the table was “insulting” and threatened a boycott of this year’s commemorations.

She said Berlin was offering a total of €10 million including around €4.5 million already provided in compensation between 1972 and 2002 — an amount she said did not correspond to international standards. 

“We are angry and disappointed,” said Spitzer, the widow of fencing coach Andre Spitzer who was killed in the attack. “We never wanted to talk publicly about money but now we are forced to.”

RND reported that the German and Israeli governments would like to see an accord by August 15th.

The interior ministry spokesman said that beyond compensation, Germany intended to use the anniversary for fresh “historical appraisal, remembrance and recognition”.

He said this would include the formation of a commission of German and Israeli historians to “comprehensively” establish what happened “from the perspective of the year 2022”.

This would lead to “an offer of further acts of acknowledgement of the relatives of the victims of the attack” and the “grave consequences” they suffered.

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