Kim Wall death: Inventor Peter Madsen denies murder in Copenhagen trial

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Danish inventor Peter Madsen has denied murdering Swedish journalist Kim Wall on his homemade submarine, at the opening of his trial in Copenhagen.

Mr Madsen has admitted dismembering the 30-year-old's body and disposing of it at sea, but says she died accidentally.

Her remains were found by a passing cyclist, 11 days after she interviewed the inventor last August.

Mr Madsen is charged with murder, dismemberment and aggravated sexual assault.

He faces a life sentence if convicted, which typically means 15 to 17 years in prison without parole.

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Around 40 witnesses are set to give evidence, as prosecutors attempt to shed light on the circumstances of Wall's death.

What do we know about what happened?

Kim Wall, a freelance journalist, boarded Peter Madsen's UC3 Nautilus on the evening of 10 August 2017 to interview him for a story.

She had left her boyfriend at a going-away party the couple were having ahead of a planned move to Beijing. When she did not return, her boyfriend alerted the police.

Peter Madsen was rescued the next morning as his vessel was sinking. He initially told police that he had dropped off the reporter before the vessel began to go down.

But he later said she died when a heavy hatch on the submarine fell on her head.

Eleven days later, a cyclist found the remains of the journalist's headless torso on a nearby beach. Weeks later, police divers discovered other parts of her body in plastic bags weighed down with metal.

The 47-year-old Dane - the skipper and designer of the Nautilus, a 17m- (56ft) long privately-owned submarine - changed his version of events several times.

After saying a hatch fell on her head, he maintained instead that she had been killed by carbon monoxide poisoning inside the submarine while he was up on deck.

He initially denied cutting up her body, but then admitted dismembering it and dumping the body parts in the sea.

What has been said in court?

Peter Madsen appeared calm on Thursday, wearing a black t-shirt, jeans and black glasses, but he did not address the court. Members of the Wall family were also in the session.

His lawyer Betina Hald Engmark told the court he denied murder but admitted "violating the law about indecent handling of a corpse".

The BBC's Maddy Savage, in the courtroom, says prosecutors have been setting out their evidence against the inventor.

During the session, the prosecution said:

• It was not clear how Kim Wall died but there was the suspicion that Mr Madsen had "psychopathic tendencies"
• Pipes and straps discovered in the same bag as the journalist's clothes matched similar items found in his workshop
• Blood on his nose was the journalist's but there was no evidence of his sperm on her body
• Films found on his computer showed real women being tortured and mutilated

More than 100 journalists from all around the world were registered to cover the high-profile trial, expected to last 12 days spread over seven weeks.

A verdict is expected on 25 April.

Who was Kim Wall?

The journalist was born in 1987 and grew up in a close-knit community in the small town of Trelleborg in southern Sweden, just across the strait dividing Denmark from Sweden.

She studied international relations at London School of Economics and went on to gain a place on the rigorous masters programme of Columbia University's School of Journalism - described as the "Oxbridge of journalism".

She had a long career in journalism, having previously reported from North Korea, the South Pacific, Uganda and Haiti, writing for the New York Times, Guardian, Vice and the South China Morning Post.