Arnfinn Nesset - Norwegian Mass Murderer

We remember a couple of years ago when a gunman ran amok on a small Norwegian island with an arsenal of weapons and ammunition, and killed just over seventy people.  What was outrageous was that he was sentenced to just 21 years prison - the maximum under Norwegian law.  But this man, Anders Brevik, was not the first.  Back in 1983, Arnfinn Nesset was convicted on twenty two counts of murder, and sentenced to the maximum penalty.  Twenty one years.  What is unbelievable is that his actual tally of victims is thought to be as as 130.  Putting him up there with the "Doctor of Death" Harold Shipman.  Whilst Shipman went about his killing as  doctor, Nesset ran a nursing home.

    Nesset was born in 1937, an illegitimate child, and never found any happiness.  He was unmarried.  It was in 1977 that in Orkdal, Sor-Trondelag, he was appointed as manger of a nursing home.  But an unusually high number of deaths of residents did raise eyebrows amongst the staff.  Four years after his appointment, in 1981, he bought a large quantity of a very powerful relaxant, Curacit, brought further suspicions.  He was questioned by Police as to why he purchased such a large amount of this particular muscle relaxant.  It was to kill a pack of wild dogs was his response.  Police kept up the pressure when Nesset suddenly confessed to killing 27 people.  Police were stunned to hear him say that he had killed so many that he was unsure as to the true total.  So Police did  thorough background check on Nesset and traced his career working in care homes as far back as 1962.  His years at these care homes showed a potential 62 victims.

    The drugs he used to "humanely" kill people, resulted in a slow and excruciating death.  On trial, he claimed to be suffering from Schizophrenia, and this was responsible for him getting a kick out of playing "God" with peoples` lives.  Four Psychiatrists examined him and deemed him to be sane.  He pleaded not guilty and withdrew his confessions.  But he was still charged with 25 counts of murder.  He was convicted of 22 murders, one attempted murder and five counts of forgery.  His sentence, naturally, was 21 years.  Incredibly, he was released on conditional parole after just 12 years, because of good behaviour.  If you want to slaughter loads of people and receive virtually nothing in return, go to Norway.