The man at the age of 40 is suspected of having contacted the children via the horse game Star stable. On Thursday, he was charged with allegedly subjecting 84 children to sexual abuse online.

The man has previously been convicted three times for similar crimes. The most recent sentence fell in 2017 when he was convicted of sex crimes against 25 children who were between seven and 13 years old. The sentence was two years and four months in prison. Waiting to serve the prison sentence, the man was released - against the will of the prosecutors.

"There was a relapse risk"

Now he is charged with suspicion that immediately after the release, in June 2017, he began committing new sex crimes against children.

- We asked that he remain detained, the court was of a different view. With fact in hand, he could commit new crimes so close after the main hearing because he was not kept in custody, says Alexandra Bopp, who was one of two prosecutors at the case that was decided in 2017.

The man was on the loose for six months before he was arrested on suspicion of the new crimes - and never had to start serving his sentence from 2017.

- We claimed that there was a relapse risk. Not only in light of the fact that there were so many children in our case, also because of the previous judgments, says Alexandra Bopp.

The Court answers

According to Bertil Sundin, counsel at the Stockholm District Court, the court made an overall assessment based on the circumstances that existed then.

- It was no mistake in that way, we had no advantage then. If he had been detained after the hearing he would still have come out after some six months because he had been detained so long before, says Bertil Sundin.