(DW.COM) – Serial killer and former nurse Niels Högel was sentenced Thursday to life in prison for the murder of 85 patients.

“Your guilt is unimaginable,” Judge Sebastian Bührmann told the convicted man. “The human mind struggles to take in the sheer scale of these crimes.”

“I feel like an accountant of death,” the judge remarked. “Sometimes the worst fantasy is not enough to describe the truth.”

Högel was originally accused of having murdered 100 patients while on duty as a nurse from June 1999 until 2005. The victims, people of all ages and backgrounds, some in bad health and others on the mend, had trusted the medical centers in Lower Saxony where Högel worked with their lives.

The court in Oldenburg handed down Germany’s most severe form of a life sentence which precludes the chance of an early release after serving 15 years. A prisoner sentenced to life imprisonment can usually apply for parole after 15 years, but if the court judges there is a “severe gravity of guilt,” as it did in Högel’s case, parole can be delayed for a non-specified period beyond that time. </s> Serial killer and former nurse Niels Högel was sentenced Thursday to life in prison for the murder of 85 patients.

"Your guilt is unimaginable," Judge Sebastian Bührmann told the convicted man. "The human mind struggles to take in the sheer scale of these crimes."

"I feel like an accountant of death," the judge remarked. "Sometimes the worst fantasy is not enough to describe the truth."

Högel was originally accused of having murdered 100 patients while on duty as a nurse from June 1999 until 2005. The victims, people of all ages and backgrounds, some in bad health and others on the mend, had trusted the medical centers in Lower Saxony where Högel worked with their lives.

The court in Oldenburg handed down Germany's most severe form of a life sentence which precludes the chance of an early release after serving 15 years. A prisoner sentenced to life imprisonment can usually apply for parole after 15 years, but if the court judges there is a "severe gravity of guilt," as it did in Högel's case, parole can be delayed for a non-specified period beyond that time.

Apology to victims

During closing arguments at the district court in Oldenburg on Wednesday, Högel addressed friends and relatives of his victims.

"I would like to sincerely apologize to every single individual for all that I have subjected them to over the years," the 42-year-old Högel told the court.

While working at a clinic in Oldenburg and a hospital in Delmenhorst, Högel deliberately induced cardiac arrest in patients by injecting them with certain drugs. He then resuscitated them to win everyone's admiration. But many of Högel's stunts went awry, and patients died.

A former colleague told the mass-circulation German newspaper Bild that Högel "always pushed everyone else aside" when resuscitating patients. The man, also a former nurse, said less-experienced doctors even expressed their appreciation that Högel was around. The killer's unsuspecting colleagues nicknamed him "resuscitation Rambo."

Read more: Parents accused of stabbing children, torching foreclosed home

The prosecution sought a murder conviction on 97 counts against Högel, having conceded they lacked the requisite evidence in three cases. Högel's defense team closed its arguments by calling for 55 murder convictions and 14 attempted murder convictions. They said 31 cases should be thrown out.



Dubbed "resuscitation Rambo" by colleagues, Högel did not revive everyone he drugged

Trial after trial

Högel's killing spree came to light in June 2005, when fellow nurses at the Delmenhorst hospital caught him manipulating a patient's syringe driver.

Initially, Högel was accused of manslaughter. Then, in a subsequent trial, he was accused of three murders. And, as evidence began piling up, it became clear that Högel was most likely involved in numerous deaths.

Read more: Wife confesses to husband's unsolved 2008 murder

In court, Högel admitted to the crimes for which there was sufficient evidence to convict and cultivated his image as a cooperative defendant. In 2015, he was sentenced to life in prison.

Subsequent investigations and postmortem examinations found that Högel might not have been telling the truth. The corpses of many other possible victims could not be forensically analyzed as they had already been cremated.

Högel said he did not recall what happened to those patients. "I do not remember, but I cannot rule anything out," Högel said when asked about the various people he has been accused of murdering, according to the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Read more: Parents accused of stabbing children, torching foreclosed home

The defendant spoke as if he were commenting on something altogether banal. Högel showed neither "sympathy nor remorse," the newspaper reported.

He denied involvement in the deaths of five people.

Watch video 01:02 Share Puzzling crossbow killings Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3IRJA Crossbow killings: Two more bodies found

'Extremely narcissistic person'

Högel is reported to have had a happy childhood and to have later led a structured life, offering no clues as to why he committed dozens of murders.

Read more: German nurse killed patients 'out of boredom'

It's possible that "he could no longer bear seeing gravely ill or dying patients and then took matters into his own hands," Karl Beine, head physician at St. Marien-Hospital Hamm and professor of psychiatry at Witten/Herdecke University, told DW. For 25 years, Beine has been researching the phenomenon of medical staff who murder patients.

Högel likely knowingly instigated medical emergencies so that he could then "shine by successfully resuscitating" the patients, Beine said. This, he added, would indicate that Högel "is an extremely narcissistic person who depended on external recognition to boost his weak ego."

The court heard an emotive account of patients' lives — and Högel's role in ending them

Desensitized to death

Beine described Högel as someone who had become desensitized and no longer had empathy. He said Högel "to this day has not fully understood the incredible pain he caused the victims' families." The doctor added: "One will never learn his exact motives."

Högel's murder spree means that other hospital workers will also have to go to court. Investigators will need to determine how it was possible that Högel could kill so many patients and why there were no security measures in place to prevent this from happening.

The nurse had been moved out of the intensive care unit after initial suspicions arose, but he was nevertheless handed a certificate testifying to his excellent work, which he then used to find employment at a different hospital. There, he might have murdered 60 more patients.

"Early warning signs and evidence that something was up were not registered," Beine said, or they were "ignored or even hushed up." That, he added, points to much more than just a failure or lack of hospital security measures. Instead, he said, "hospitals prioritized their own interests over the interests of their patients."

Gaby Lübben is one of several lawyers representing the victims' families. In May, she showed the courtroom pictures of the murdered patients and spoke about their lives. Then, she addressed the defendant. "I hope that you, Mr. Högel, will never forget these images," she said, adding that a just verdict would see him "grow old behind a locked door, tormented by the spirits of the deceased."





With a view to kill: Germany's worst serial killers The cannibal of Münsterberg Karle Denke murdered and cannibalized at least 42 people, mostly villagers, between 1903 and 1924 in his Münsterberg apartment in then Prussia (pictured). It is thought that he even sold the flesh of his victims at the Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland) market as pork. A victim was able to escape and later police found cured human flesh in his home. Denke hung himself in his jail cell two days later.

With a view to kill: Germany's worst serial killers The horror of Hanover Fritz Haarmann is thought to have sexually assaulted, murdered, mutilated and dismembered at least 24 boys and young men between 1918 and 1924.The full extent of his crimes were revealed after 500 pieces of human bone, some with knife marks, were found by Hanover residents worried about the disappearance of children in the area. Haarmann, who was once a police informant, was beheaded in 1925.

With a view to kill: Germany's worst serial killers The butcher of Berlin Karl Grossmann killed his victims and sold their meat on the black market and at his hotdog stand. After neighbors heard screaming, police burst into his home to find a dead young woman on his bed. It is unclear how many lives Grossmann took, but he is suspected of dismembering 23 women found nearby and up to 100 missing cases in Berlin. He hung himself in 1922 before receiving the death penalty.

With a view to kill: Germany's worst serial killers The terror of Falkenhagen Lake Friedrich Schumann was a locksmith who raped, murdered and stole from 1918 to 1920. After a confrontation with a local forester — whom he shot — Schumann was arrested and charged with the murder of six people and attempted murder of 11 others. He was sentenced to death six times. The night before his execution at aged 28, he admitted to killing 25 people, including his first victim — his cousin.

With a view to kill: Germany's worst serial killers The S-Bahn murderer Paul Ogorzow was convicted for 31 sexual assaults, the murder of eight women and attempted murder of six others in Nazi-era Berlin between 1940 and 1941. Ogorzow worked for the German commuter rail system and would threaten, stab or bludgeon his rape victims before sometimes throwing them off the moving train. He was sentenced to death and beheaded two days later.

With a view to kill: Germany's worst serial killers The death-maker In 1946 and 1947, Rudolf Pleil worked as a border guard in the Harz Mountains and illegally trafficked mostly women from East to West Germany. For a while, he had two accomplices, who would help trap victims. Rudolf Pleil was convicted of killing a salesman and nine women but he claimed to have killed 25 people. Sentenced to life in prison in 1950, Pleil committed suicide eight years later.

With a view to kill: Germany's worst serial killers The man-eater of Duisburg Joachim Gero Kroll was a serial killer, rapist, child molester and cannibal. Between 1955 and 1976 he murdered up to 14 people, mainly women and young girls. When he was arrested in 1976, human remains were packed in his refrigerator and he was in the process of cooking the arms and hands of a four-year-old girl he had just killed. Imprisoned for life in 1982, Kroll died of a heart attack in 1991.

With a view to kill: Germany's worst serial killers Smoking out murder Fritz Honka was notorious for killing at least four women between 1970 and 1975. He strangled prostitutes in his apartment and cut up their corpses. Firefighters found hidden body parts in his apartment after a fire broke out while he was gone. Honka was sentenced to 15 years in a psychiatric institution. After his release in 1993, he lived in a retirement home until his death five years later.

With a view to kill: Germany's worst serial killers The St. Pauli killer Werner Pinzner was a for-hire killer for pimps in Hamburg's red light district. He is thought to have killed between seven and 10 people. Pinzner gained nationwide fame in 1986 when he was brought to the Hamburg police department for interrogation with his wife and lawyer. He suddenly pulled out a gun and shot the investigating prosecutor before turning the gun on his wife and himself.

With a view to kill: Germany's worst serial killers Death by poison A nurse from Cologne, Marianne Nölle killed patients in her care by poisoning them with an antipsychotic drug between 1984 and 1992. Police believe she actually killed 17 people and attempted a further 18 murders, but she was only convicted of killing seven patients. She has never confessed to any of her crimes and since 1993, Nölle has been serving a life sentence.

With a view to kill: Germany's worst serial killers Killer on the roads Volker Eckert was a German trucker who murdered at least nine women, most of them between 2001 and 2006. According to police, there were probably four others. His first victim was a classmate whom he strangled aged 15. Most of his victims were prostitutes he picked up across Europe and he kept trophies like his victims' hair. Eckert hung himself in his cell during his trial in 2007.

With a view to kill: Germany's worst serial killers Angel of death Stephan Letter is a former nurse responsible for the death of at least 29 patients by lethal injection at a Bavarian hospital between 2003 and 2004. Arrested for drug theft, Letter confessed to some of the killings, insisting that he was trying to relieve suffering. He is serving a life sentence and until recently, his acts were described as Germany's worst killing spree since World War II.

With a view to kill: Germany's worst serial killers The killer nurse Keen to impress colleagues with his life-saving skills, Niels Högel would inject patients with cardiovascular medication to induce heart failure or circulatory collapse. He was convicted of killing two people and was jailed for life in 2015. However, after a multi-year probe, investigators now believe the former nurse was responsible for 100 more deaths, making him Germany's most prolific killer.



At 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of news and features. You can sign up to receive it here. </s> OLDENBURG, Germany — A former nurse who confessed to killing more than four dozen patients in Germany was found guilty Thursday of murdering 85 and was sentenced to life in prison, with the judge calling the scope of his crimes “incomprehensible.”

It was the third conviction for the nurse, Niels Högel, who is believed to be the most prolific serial killer in peacetime Germany, and perhaps the world. But for the families of the nearly 100 people whom he was accused of killing while in his care, the trial had aimed to serve as a form of belated justice by trying to find answers to why they had died.

The presiding judge, Sebastian Bührmann, had emphasized that the purpose of the trial went beyond a determination of guilt: It was to try to find answers about how and why the patients had died. But he acknowledged that in 15 other cases, the court had failed to find enough evidence to support a murder conviction.

“Despite all of our attempts, we could only lift part of the fog that hangs over this trial,” the judge said. “That fills us with a certain sadness.”

Högel had been accused of administering overdoses of drugs that caused cardiac arrest so that he could try to revive patients heroically.

Under German law, a person convicted of murder can be sentenced only to life in prison, with the possibility of parole after 15 years, depending on the severity of the crime. Högel is already serving a life sentence for other murders, and the judge made clear that his record would ensure he is not eligible for early parole.

Officials believe Högel killed as many as 300 patients while working at two clinics in northern Germany between 2000 and 2005, although the true number may never be known. </s> OLDENBURG, Germany — A former nurse who confessed to killing more than four dozen patients was found guilty on Thursday in Germany of murdering 85 people and was sentenced to life in prison, with the judge calling his crimes “incomprehensible.”

It was the third conviction for the nurse, Niels Högel, who is believed to be the most prolific serial killer in peacetime Germany, and perhaps the world. But for the families of the 100 people he was accused of killing while in his care, the trial had aimed to serve as a form of belated justice by trying to find answers to why they had died.

The judge, Sebastian Bührmann, said of his findings, “Despite all of our attempts, we could only lift part of the fog.”

In court, Mr. Högel sat with his head in his hand. The judge directly addressed him, repeatedly telling him that the scope of his crime was “incomprehensible.” </s> In 2015, former nurse Niels Högel was convicted of killing two patients and sentenced to life in prison. On Monday, Reuters reports, police formally charged him with 97 other murders.

Högel worked at clinics in Oldenburg and Delmenhorst, Germany in the early and mid-aughts, where his M.O. was to inject patients with lethal drugs and then attempt to revive them — allegedly because he was “bored.”

Per an article in The Guardian during that trial:

He said he felt great when he managed to resuscitate a patient, and devastated when he failed. Each time a patient died, he vowed to never play his lethal game again, but this determination would then slowly fade, he said.

Högel also claimed to have killed 30 other patients but, over the years, police came to believe that number was much higher. If found guilty of the 97 murders, local sources say he would be “the worst serial killer in German post-war history.” </s> Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Christian Marbach tells the BBC it is hard to accept his grandfather's murder

An ex-nurse in Germany has admitted at the start of his trial that he murdered 100 patients, making him one of the world's most prolific serial killers.

Detectives say Niels Högel administered fatal doses of medication to the people in his care - causing cardiac arrest - at two hospitals in northern Germany.

His motive, prosecutors say, was to impress colleagues by trying to revive the very patients he had attacked.

Högel, 41, is already serving a life term for six deaths while in his care.

He is now said to have killed 36 patients in Oldenburg and 64 in nearby Delmenhorst between 1999 and 2005.

Image copyright AFP/Getty Image caption Niels Högel hid his face from the cameras in court on Tuesday

Image copyright AFP Image caption He was later seen being led to a police vehicle

When asked by the judge in the Oldenburg court if the charges against him were true, the 41-year-old confessed to "more or less" all of them.

The current trial, which started with a minute's silence for the victims, is expected to last until May. It follows years of toxicology tests on 130 sets of exhumed remains.

Questions remain for victims' families

By Jenny Hill, BBC News, Berlin

Dozens of relatives of those who died at the hands of Niels Högel were in court to hear his confession.

Many of them are demanding to know how he was able to kill - with apparent impunity - so many people in the confines of two hospitals.

Death rates rose significantly during Högel's time.

Disturbing details have emerged: it's been widely reported that Högel was allowed to continue working for two days after he was caught "red handed" having administered drugs to a patient, during which time he killed another patient.

Many relatives believe health authorities chose to turn a blind eye.

An investigation is under way to determine whether their actions facilitated the murderous ambitions of post-war Germany's most prolific serial killer.

Investigators say he may have killed even more but potential victims have been cremated.

Christian Marbach, a spokesperson for relatives, said it was a scandal the ex-nurse had been allowed to kill with impunity for years without officials intervening.

"We fought for four years for this trial and expect Högel is sentenced for another 100 murders," said Mr Marbach, whose grandfather was killed by Högel.

"I hope he will be found guilty on each count so that the loved ones can finally find some closure," said Petra Klein, who runs a victims' support group.

Relatives of his alleged victims were expected to pack the court but journalists in the room noted many empty seats in reserved rows.

Högel was first caught in 2005 injecting unprescribed medication into a patient in Delmenhorst. In 2008 he was jailed for seven years for attempted murder.

In 2014-15, a second trial found him guilty of two murders and two attempted murders and he was given the maximum sentence.

He said he was "honestly sorry" and hoped families would find peace. He said the decisions to carry out his crimes had been "relatively spontaneous".

However, during the trial he confessed to a psychiatrist that he had killed up to 30 people.

Investigators then widened the investigation, exhuming 130 former patients and looking for evidence of medication that could have triggered cardiac arrest. They also pored over records in the hospitals he worked at.

Records at the Oldenburg hospital showed rates of deaths and resuscitations had more than doubled when Högel was on shift, German media reported. </s> Death Toll for German Serial Killer Nurse Goes Up, Another 97 Victims Suspected

A German nurse serving a life sentence for murdering two patients is suspected of killing another 97 people by lethal injection.

If convicted, Niels Högel would become Germany's most deadly serial killer ever.

Högel, now 41, was charged with 97 further counts of murder on Monday. His third trial in the northern city of Oldenburg, Germany, is expected to start later this year, according to Reuters.

Police investigator Arne Schmidt told Deutsche Welle the killings are "unique in the history of the German republic."

Högel was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 on two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder. But during his trial, he confessed to killing many others.

He admitted to injecting 90 of his patients with a lethal cocktail of drugs in order to induce heart failure or circulatory collapse so he could try to revive them. Högel believed bringing dying patients back from the brink of death would help him shine as a hero and garner respect from his peers and superiors.

The New York Times reported Högel said he acted "out of boredom" and Reuters added that he described feeling euphoric after bringing someone back to life, although he often failed.

In statements to a psychologist he revealed over 30 killings — on top of the two for which he was convicted. That prompted authorities to launch an investigation and exhume scores of bodies buried between 1999 and 2005 and test them for the killer's drug cocktails.

As NPR's Laurel Wamsley reported in August, Högel's career as a nurse was ghastly throughout:

Also troubling is that Högel's lethal practices went unreported by fellow hospital staff. Though others noticed that the number of deaths in the intensive care unit at Delmenhorst doubled during his time there, nothing was done. In 2005, a colleague saw Högel injecting a patient with ajmaline, but management didn't do anything about it for two days, during which Högel killed his final patient. Six employees at the hospital at Delmenhorst are now charged with negligent manslaughter for their failure to act. An investigation into neglect at Oldenburg is ongoing. "The murders could have been prevented," [chief of police Johan] Kühme told the Guardian, noting that Högel was given a clean reference which allowed him to move to the Delmenhorst hospital and continue killing people. "People at the clinic in Oldenburg knew of the abnormalities."

On Monday, Oldenburg prosecutors told Reuters they had charged Högel with 97 additional murders but toxicology tests did not find conclusive proof in three more cases.

Of the newly discovered cases, 62 patients died in the Delmenhorst hospital near the northern city of Bremen and 35 in a clinic in Oldenburg. </s> Serial killer nurse Niels Hoegel sentenced to life for murdering 85 patients in Germany

Serial killer nurse Niels Hoegel sentenced to life for murdering 85 patients in Germany

Niels Hoegel's victims were aged between 34 and 96

A former nurse has been given a life sentence for murdering 85 patients in the worst killing spree in Germany's post-war history.

Niels Hoegel, 42, injected people with lethal drugs and then played the hero by appearing to struggle to revive them, a court heard.

"Your crimes are impossible to grasp," judge Sebastian Buehrmann reportedly told him.

"The human mind struggles to take in the sheer scale of these crimes."

Hoegel - whose victims were aged between 34 and 96 - was already serving a life sentence after being convicted in 2015 of two murders and two attempted murders.

He worked at a hospital in the northwestern city of Oldenburg between 1999 and 2002 and another hospital in nearby Delmenhorst from 2003 to 2005.

He was charged with committing 100 murders between 2000 and 2005. He admitted 43 of them, disputed five and said he could not remember the other 52.

Hoegel was acquitted of 15 of the charges due to a lack of evidence.

There are no consecutive sentences in the German court system and under the country's law he could be released after 15 years.

However, a ruling on the seriousness of the crimes all but ensures he will remain in the jail after the standard 15-year term is up.

The court also banned Hoegel from practising nursing for life.

During his first trial, Hoegel said he intentionally brought about cardiac crises in some 90 patients in Delmenhorst because he enjoyed the feeling of being able to resuscitate them.

He later told investigators that he also killed patients in Oldenburg.

Authorities subsequently investigated hundreds of deaths, exhuming bodies of former patients.

In his closing statement to the court on Wednesday, Hoegel apologised and said he realised how much pain and suffering he had caused with his "terrible deeds".

"To each and every one of you I sincerely apologise for all that I have done," he said. </s> A male nurse convicted of murdering patients with overdoses is facing new charges that would make him Germany’s most prolific serial killer since the Second World War.

Niels Högel was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 for murdering two patients in his care by deliberately administering them with overdoses.

Police said on Monday they now have evidence to charge him with the murder of another 84 patients — and they believe the actual number he killed could be even higher.

Prosecutors said the 40-year-old, who is currently serving a life sentence with no chance of parole for 15 years, would face trial on the new charges some time in 2018.

Högel told his 2015 trial he had administered the lethal overdoses so he could show off his resuscitation skills by saving the patients.
Niels Högel, post-war Germany's serial killer with the highest known kill count, is sentenced to life imprisonment for 85 murders.