Man arrested for plotting to kill Prime Minister's wife

A 42-year-old postal worker has been taken into custody after revealing plans to assassinate the Swedish Prime Minister's wife, Filippa Reinfeldt.

• Security service: 'No plot to kill Prime Minister's wife' (15 Nov 07)

The man was questioned by the Swedish Security Service (Säpo) on Wednesday after police received a tip-off from doctors at a psychiatric ward in Stockholm, Aftonbladet reports.

The doctors made to decision to breach patient confidentiality after the man spoke openly of his plans and said that he had set aside money to buy a gun.

"Life has no meaning. Maybe I'll kill somebody," he is reported to have said.

The man's stated motive for plotting to murder the successful county councillor was to indirectly cause harm to her husband, Fredrik Reinfeldt, Aftonbladet reports. The suspect reasoned that an attack on the Prime Minister 's wife would have the desired effect while also being easier to carry out.

The 42-year-old told Säpo that he had almost got around to buying the intended murder weapon, a gun worth 5,000 kronor ($800) that he had agreed to buy from an acquaintance.

On the orders of the public prosecutor the suspect was arrested and taken to a psychiatric clinic under heavy police escort. There he is being held in solitary confinement.

Säpo did not immediately react to the alleged threat on Filippa Reinfeldt's life. Not until a week after the hospital's initial report and the subsequent emergence of further details did the prosecutor decide that it was necessary to take action.

The 42-year-old is said to have fantasized about committing murder ever since he was a teenager. He has also spoken of being scarred by a loveless upbringing. Murdering somebody would be an effective means exacting revenge on his father and sullying his name.

He told police that he had felt much better since he had decided to kill.

The suspect is reported to have had access to a small apartment close to Filippa Reinfeldt's workplace at County Hall in Stockholm's Kungsholmen district.

The police had not informed her of any threat on her life, Aftonbladet reports. When she returned home to the prime ministerial residence on Wednesday afternoon she had no idea that the 42-year-old had been arrested, she told the newspaper. Nor had she been offered any additional protection from Säpo.