The case in summary: In 2012, Webjørn Jensen was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the murder of his best friend Ole Aamodt, but has always maintained his innocence. Now the Re-admission Commission has decided that the case will be re-examined due to new evidence. In a police interview in 2018, a person is said to have told about a conversation with a relative who admitted the murder a few months before she died. Jensen was released from his sentence in Bodø prison in March this year. Jensen’s defense lawyer, Tom Barth-Hofstad, says that no one can imagine how devastating it is for a person to have to serve 11 years of their life in prison for something they did not do. He believes this should not happen in Norway. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. – It has been a terrible strain to sit inside for 11 years. I have had the case on me since 2010. That’s what 68-year-old Webjørn Kjetil Jensen says in a longer interview with news. In 2012, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the intentional murder of his best friend Ole Aamodt at an address in Bodø. – What was it like to be judged? – It felt absolutely terrible. I have not been the kindest child in the world, so to speak, but I have never committed any murder. Only in March this year was he released from his sentence in Bodø prison. SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN JUDGED: – It is very strange that they judge a person for something they think happened. The case was not even fully investigated. I was simply convicted on circumstantial evidence, says Webjørn Jensen. Photo: Sondre Skjelvik / news The Re-admission Commission has now decided that the case will be heard by the court again. The reason is what they believe is new evidence. In a police interview in 2018, a person is said to have told about a conversation with a relative. This relative is said to have confessed to the murder a few months before she died. Admitted to having stabbed the deceased in the thigh On the night of 6 July 2010, the police received a report that a person was bleeding profusely outside an apartment on Mørkved outside the center of Bodø. An hour later, Ole Aamodt was pronounced dead on the spot, with several stab wounds to the body. The next morning, his 56-year-old host and friend, Webjørn Jensen, was arrested with blood on his clothes and damage to his face. Murder of Mørkved outside Bodø. 6 July 2010. He admitted to stabbing Aamodt in the thigh, but denied guilt for the murder. In the Salten district court, he was sentenced to eleven years in prison. But the verdict was appealed. In February 2012, he was also convicted in the Court of Appeal. This time the sentence is increased to 12 years in prison. It happened after the jury had spent half an hour deciding, something defender Nils Aga reacted to, according to Avisa Nordland. He thought there must be a new record in the Hålogaland Court of Appeal. – I am disappointed. Especially since the jury only takes half an hour to reach such a serious verdict, he said. Webjørn Jensen played a lot of guitar during the 11 years he served time for the murder of Ole Aamodt. He has continued that hobby outside the prison walls. Photo: Sondre Skjelvik / news Jensen appealed the case to the Supreme Court, but in April 2012 the court refused to allow the appeal to be brought forward. But what had actually happened on this summer’s day at Mørkved? Three present in the apartment – He (deceased) happened to be with me, and had previously lived with me for 2–3 months because he did not have livable conditions in his own apartment. It is an old childhood friend whom I have known since the age of 8-9, says Jensen to news. In the judgment from the district court, it was stated that Jensen was accused of repeatedly stabbing Ole Aamodt with a knife in the right cheek, chest and right forearm. But Jensen himself said in court that he did not inflict the fatal stab wounds and that he was only concerned with gaining control of the situation, not harming the man. In court, he explained that he did not know who had inflicted the other stings. Webjørn Jensen sits in the living room of his apartment in Bodø. It is only two days since he learned that his case has been requested to be reopened. Photo: Sondre Skjelvik / news According to the court, there were three people in Jensen’s apartment during the incident: the deceased, a woman and Jensen himself. Jensen has explained that he was sitting in a chair when the deceased came out of the toilet. The deceased is said to have hit him over both ears, and a brawl ensued. Here, the deceased is said to have hit Jensen’s head against the kitchen counter. Bending over the kitchen counter, Jensen took out a small folding knife and explained that he stabbed the deceased twice in the thigh. – Yes, I stabbed him twice in the thigh, but it was in pure self-defence, quite simply, says Jensen to news. The basketball game gradually ceased and the battle cocks went their separate ways. Jensen then explained that he saw the deceased lying on the lawn outside the home. He went out to the man and is said to have placed him in a stable side position. He is said to have then asked the woman, who was also present, to call the police and an ambulance. He then explained that he ran into the woods. When he returned later in the day, he was arrested by the police. The telephone conversation In 2013, Jensen asked to have his case reopened, but was refused. Then, in 2018, the police question a relative of the woman who was present on the night of the murder. The relative had always had the feeling that the woman was involved in the murder, but had only received evasive answers when she was confronted about this. Webjørn Jensen was 57 when he was sentenced for the murder of his best friend. In March, he was released from his sentence, now 68 years old. Photo: Sondre Skjelvik / news Later the two had a conversation on the phone. Here the woman must have admitted that she was behind the murder. The relative asked her to report to the police, but she never did. A few months later, the woman died. Requests that the case be reassessed In June 2020, Webjørn Jensen decides to have his case reopened again. – As long as I haven’t done what I was accused of, something must be done, says Jensen to news. Finally, he gets through. The commission itself conducts eight interviews of people who were present in the home on the night of the murder, and others who were connected to the investigation. Among them, one of the investigators on the case, who had questioned both Jensen and the woman who was present, is also questioned. The State Attorney: – To be followed up – I am familiar with the petition, and I am familiar with the allegations that have come in, and have been given the opportunity to comment on them along the way. Now the decision has come, I have recently become aware of it, and I will follow it up when I receive it from the Attorney General, says State Attorney Hilde Stoltenberg to news. – What possible outcomes are there in this case now? – On a general basis, a decision will have to be made as to whether the case should be presented again to the court in order to decide on the question of guilt again, or whether the prosecution should apply for an acquittal. – It is difficult for me to comment on what the outcome will be in this case as it is a decision the Attorney General must make. She explained to the commission that she was constantly struggling to get the information from the interviews to agree with the findings from the crime scene. After learning that the woman had confessed to the murder, she contacted the commission herself. This was because she believed that “the pieces fell into place”, and that she had always believed that the case had neither been fully investigated nor resolved. Dissent in the commission On 26 October 2023, the Re-admission Commission had decided to ask the case to be taken up again in the judiciary. But the decision was not unanimous, and one of the five members opposed a reopening. The majority, on the other hand, believe that the new information in the case could lead to a different verdict in court. Jensen’s defender: – Devastating for a human being Photo: Mohammed Alayoubi / news – I think no one can imagine how devastating it is for a human being to have to serve 11 years of his life in prison for something he did not do. It should not happen in a rule of law like Norway, says the man’s lawyer, Tom Barth-Hofstad, at Elden Advokatfirma to news. – In this case, the re-admission commission has assumed that the police investigator himself has stated that the case was never fully investigated or clarified, and that there is new evidence that opens up a different course of events than what the court assumed. – We now hope that the prosecuting authorities and the court will deal with this case quickly, so that my client can end this tragic chapter in his life in a dignified way, he says. Among other things, they emphasize the alleged admission that the woman should have made, but point out that the woman is now dead and has no opportunity to give her version. In addition, emphasis has been placed on the interrogations carried out, including by the police investigator, who himself contacted the commission on his own initiative. NEW PHONE: After he got out, Webjørn Jensen has acquired a smartphone. – There is a lot to catch up on. I have missed a lot. I feel like a dinosaur, he says. Photo: Sondre Skjelvik / news Got a phone call two days ago At home in the apartment in Bodø, Jensen is now a relieved man. Just two days ago, I learned what the commission had concluded. – I was overjoyed. – How were the ten years in Bodø prison? – I tried to go with the flow. And distance myself as best I could. I played guitar and worked as an errand boy. – Did you make it? – No, I lay awake a lot at night. It was a terrible time. The worst part was that I wasn’t allowed to sit on my mother’s deathbed. I was denied that. – Are you bitter? – No, actually. Although in retrospect I don’t understand how that could happen. – How is your life today? – I was released in March, and have not fully landed. There is a lot to catch up on. I have missed a lot. Just understanding smartphone. I feel like a dinosaur. – How do you see the future? – I look forward to the future. I have family in Sweden who miss me. I think it will eventually be nice to get out of here. When the case is over. Webjørn Kjetil Jensen is now looking forward to the future. Photo: Sondre Skjelvik / news
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Deceased woman allegedly confessed to the murder Webjørn served time for – news Nordland
