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In April this year, there was a major turning point in the case when Tom Hagen (70) was arrested, charged with murder or complicity in the murder of his wife Anne-Elisabeth Hagen.
The theory of the police is that she was killed inside her home in Sloraveien in Lørenskog, on October 31, 2018. They believe that the husband, either alone or in collaboration with others, is behind this.
Tom Hagen denies having anything to do with the disappearance and tells NRK that he has nothing to confess.
Five weapons
Police have now issued another charge against the 70-year-old man in connection with a search at Sloraveien 4 in November 2018. Police are said to have found the following at the home:
- Two sealed Astra-type pistols
- A rusty Husqvarna pistol from World War II
- At Smith & Wesson-pistol
- A sharp edged shotgun
- Multiple shotgun shells and 9mm cartridges.
Tom Hagen believes that he informed the police about the weapons early after the disappearance, and that he received the answer that he did not have to worry about this. Defender Svein Holden tells NRK.
This weekend, police have not responded to NRK’s questions about the weapons charge.
The garden lacked a weapon card for the pistols, and the weapons should not have been properly stored in the weapon locker either.
– Over time, all the pistols were stored in a steel ship’s chest with a solid padlock, but the chest is somewhat faulty. There is a lid on the casket, which is designed so that these weapons are not easily accessible, even when the lid was opened, says defender Svein Holden of the Hjort DA law firm.
DEFENDANT: Attorney Svein Holden is a partner at the Hjort Law Firm and an advocate for Tom Hagen.
Photo: Alexander Nordby / NRK
According to the defender, Tom Hagen has had an interest in guns since he was a teenager, and the guns must have had antiquarian value to him. The 70-year-old has also long been a member of a shooting club. That must be why he had cartridges for one of the pistols and the shotgun.
Guns in the bedroom
To what NRK knows, the police found the weapons when they searched the house shortly after the disappearance. At this time, the police investigated the case as a disappearance case with an economic motive, and Hagen had offended status.
HAGLE IN BEDROOM: The house in Sloraveien. Tom Hagen had a sharp-edged shotgun in the house’s second-floor bedroom.
Photo: Cicilie S. Andersen
During the search, police discovered several pistols that were not registered in Hagen and a sharp-edged shotgun. Inside the entrance hall at Sloraveien 4, there is an approved weapons cabinet, but the NRK was informed that the weapons were found in Tom Hagen’s bedroom on the second floor of the house.
According to the defender, the rifle, which was found with the sharp edge next to the bed, remained next to the bed because Hagen felt that his security had not been attended to.
He got scared
– He became restless and scared, so he took the shotgun out of the gun locker and placed it behind the bed, so he could sleep safely with the knowledge that he could defend himself if the perpetrators returned, says defender Holden.
As for the other of the functional weapons, a Smith & Wesson pistol, Hagen should not have used it according to his defender.
– Hagen has intended to turn over the gun in a previous gun amnesty, but unfortunately it hasn’t, Holden says.
Gun amnesty is when the police fail to prosecute people who have unregistered guns that are subject to registration.
The weapons are then turned over for destruction, sale, or search. The last time this happened in Norway was in 2017. The Police Directorate still believes that around 50,000 weapons have been lost.
Recognize parts of the charge
In a letter to the police, Tom Hagen’s defenders explain themselves about the new charge.
According to the defender, Hagen admits criminal guilt to the lack of a gun card and improper storage of the Smith & Wesson pistol. He also pleads guilty to some of the charges. Some of the clients claim that Hagen has not placed himself there, and cannot take the blame.
– Since the other pistols in Hagen’s opinion were not functional and therefore not firearms in the sense of the law, there is also no obligation to properly lock them, says Holden.
– Emergency law
As for the sharp-edged shotgun, Hagen invokes emergency law to protect himself from potential danger, according to the defender.
– Hagen wants to help the case be resolved in the best possible way and is willing to approve a fine in the case. He’s also willing to consider a confession verdict in the weapons case, Holden says.
Police have found a number of clues inside the home that link to a possible murder, but what they believe to be the cause of death is unknown.
Tom Hagen spent ten nights in custody after the arrest. As the Court of Appeal found that there was no good reason for Hagen to endorse him, he was released on 9 May. The district court had originally jailed the 70-year-old man for four weeks.
