Steen Christensen

Background

Steen Viktor Christensen (born 1964) was a Danish criminal. He was sentenced in Denmark in 1992 to twelve years in prison for numerous bank robberies, hostage taking, and rape.

Christensen engaged in drug-dealing in prison and received a 3-year extension to his sentence. In September 1997, despite the objection of the Danish police, Christensen was granted a short leave from prison. He never reported back and instead fled to Finland.

Christensen lived in Finland under the name Kim Anderssen at Hotel Vaakuna.

Christensen was allowed to go on an unguarded holiday, during which he escaped to Finland.

In prison, Christensen married a Finnish woman in 2002 and the woman gave birth to their child.

The Finnish rap musician Steen1 originally chose Steen Christensen as his artist name, but changed it to Steen1 after getting his first record deal, because of too much controversy.

The offence

On 22 October 1997, Christensen robbed the Hotel Palace in Helsinki.

Around two o’clock in the morning on October 22nd, 1997, Christensen rang the doorbell of an upscale downtown hotel in Helsinki. He acted like a regular customer and did not appear suspicious to the concierge. The concierge opened the door and let the robber in.

Christensen spoke fluent English and pretended to check into a room he had reserved earlier by telephone. When Christensen felt the moment was right, the situation was quickly transformed into armed robbery. The concierge faced a handgun, did not resist, and no excessive violence was used.

Christensen tied the concierge’s hands and legs and left him lying on the floor of the hotel reception.

Christensen obtained about 1000 euros worth of cash and started walking towards his rented apartment, located only about one kilometer away from the hotel.

Christensen said the motive for his robbery had been lack of money.

Investigation

As a Tuesday night in a peaceful neighborhood of Helsinki, escaping the scene should not have taken more than 15 minutes. The concierge was able to free himself quickly and call the police.

When the police was alerted, Christensen was already within a couple of blocks from his apartment. Christensen did not proceed directly because he saw a police car on his route ahead of him and did not want to risk running into it.

Christensen’s minor detour led to an even quicker encounter with another patrolling car. This happened so soon after the robbery that the police did not have very preliminary information about the robber. Among other details, the patrol was not aware that the robber was armed.

Arrest

Christensen was caught in Hämeenlinna when he was leaving the Hotel Vaakuna.

Trial

Christensen was sentenced to life imprisonment and was serving it at Herstedvester prison in Denmark.

He was also sentenced to pay:

• the families of the police officers he killed,
• the state treasury, and
• the watchman at the Hotel Palace

a total of almost 275,000 Finnish mark (about 46,300 euro). He was also sentenced to pay a life support of 3,873 Finnish mark (about 651.40 euro) per month to one underaged child.

The sum mainly consisted of family pensions and compensation for mental suffering.

As well as the costs for the biggest criminal chase ever in Finland, the state had to pay the trial costs of over 62,500 Finnish mark (about 10,500 euro).

There was public conversation in Denmark about what sort of prisoners can be allowed to go on holiday from the country’s incarceration facilities and under what grounds.

Outcome

On May 8, 1998, Christensen was sentenced to life in prison.

Aftermath

The incident was one of the best-known criminal cases in Finnish history and caused a spectacular chase in Finland.

Other details

During Christensen’s escape from the hotel, he shot two police officers, Eero Holsti and Antero Palo, on Tehtaankatu. The double homicide occurred in conjunction with the hotel robbery.

Christensen had been allowed to go on an unguarded holiday and escaped to Finland.

Christensen’s criminal career started in 1986 when he was seriously indebted due to a lavish lifestyle and an obsession for gambling. He took on a career as a bank robber and, during a series of ten robberies, acquired almost 700,000 euros worth of cash.

Before the Hotel Palace robbery, Christensen had never killed anyone.

Although his robberies had often been violent, no excessive violence was used against the concierge during the armed robbery.

Christensen was living in the hotel under the name Kim Anderssen.

“TS 26.10.1997” “TS 23.10.1997” “TS 27.10.1997”