Man who wrongly served 21 years in prison for the rape and murder of girls aged eight and ten is cleared

A man who wrongly served 21 years in prison for the rape and murder of girls aged eight and ten, was today cleared. 

 

The charges against Viggo Kristiansen, now 43, were dropped by the Norwegian prosecutor’s office after a re-examination of the evidence, according to Mail Online. 

 

His false conviction for the rape and murder of Stine Sofie Sorstronen, eight, and Lena Slogedal Paulsen, 10, has been described as one of the worst miscarriages of justice in the country’s history by the media.

 

 

Kristiansen was sentenced by two courts in 2001 and 2002 to 21 years in prison with the possibility of an extension, the longest sentence at the time.  

 

In May 2000, the two girls were found dead after going swimming in a lake in a wooded area in the south of the country. 

 

After the case was reopened last year, the testimony of co-defendant Jan Helge Anderson was discredited. He had implicated his friend Kristiansen as being the main perpetrator of the murder. 

 

The…