'Forest boy' is a 20-year-old Dutchman
Source: Agencies |
June 16, 2012, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE forest boy mystery is solved: It's not true.
Berlin police said yesterday that an English-speaking "teenage boy" allegedly called Ray who wandered into the city nine months ago saying he had been living in the forest for five years has been spinning a yarn.
After publishing his picture earlier this week, police said a former girlfriend identified him as a 20-year-old from the Netherlands reported missing last September. Neither Dutch or Berlin police would identify him due to privacy laws, but Netherlands state broadcaster NOS interviewed friends and said his name was Robin van Helsum.
A German security official confirmed the name.
A Dutch police spokeswoman said he was "a 20-year-old man from Hengelo" - near the German border.
Police say van Helsum has admitted the truth to them.
"The young man known as 'Ray' was confronted with the results of the investigation," police said. "He confirmed his real personal details and admitted that the previous story - that he had lived for years in the woods - had been invented."
A Dutch website on missing relatives carried an entry on Robin van Helsum, saying he was born in 1992 and had been missing since September 2, 2011 - three days before he arrived in Berlin. Robin "left after leaving a farewell note. He was last seen traveling with a friend to Berlin," the entry on Vermist.nl says.
Berlin police said even though he was reported missing, there was no active investigation because there was no evidence of foul play and he was an adult.
Police are checking whether van Helsum could be charged with fraud.
Berlin police said yesterday that an English-speaking "teenage boy" allegedly called Ray who wandered into the city nine months ago saying he had been living in the forest for five years has been spinning a yarn.
After publishing his picture earlier this week, police said a former girlfriend identified him as a 20-year-old from the Netherlands reported missing last September. Neither Dutch or Berlin police would identify him due to privacy laws, but Netherlands state broadcaster NOS interviewed friends and said his name was Robin van Helsum.
A German security official confirmed the name.
A Dutch police spokeswoman said he was "a 20-year-old man from Hengelo" - near the German border.
Police say van Helsum has admitted the truth to them.
"The young man known as 'Ray' was confronted with the results of the investigation," police said. "He confirmed his real personal details and admitted that the previous story - that he had lived for years in the woods - had been invented."
A Dutch website on missing relatives carried an entry on Robin van Helsum, saying he was born in 1992 and had been missing since September 2, 2011 - three days before he arrived in Berlin. Robin "left after leaving a farewell note. He was last seen traveling with a friend to Berlin," the entry on Vermist.nl says.
Berlin police said even though he was reported missing, there was no active investigation because there was no evidence of foul play and he was an adult.
Police are checking whether van Helsum could be charged with fraud.
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