Danish prosecutors want to confiscate and destroy a homemade submarine that was allegedly the site of a horrifying murder

AP

The UC3 Nautilus, seen in police custody in Copenhagen after being dredged up from the sea floor.

• The Nautilus UC3 was the site of the death of journalist Kim Wall.
• Peter Madsen, who built the submarine, is accused of her murder.
• They were together on the submarine in August 2017 when it sank. Madsen escaped, but Wall was later found dismembered.
• The submarine was lifted out of the water by a salvage ship for evidence.
• In an update to the case this week, prosecutors say it should be destroyed.

Prosecutors in Denmark have asked for permission to confiscate and destroy the submarine at the centre of a horrific alleged murder.

Officials in Copenhagen applied for custody of the Nautilus UC3, the craft privately-built by Peter Madsen, who now stands accused of murder.

The Nautilus was the location of the death and dismemberment of Kim Wall, a Swedish journalist whose severed limbs washed up on the shores of Copenhagen after she went on a trip with Madsen in August 2017.

Madsen was indicted on Tuesday on charges of premeditated murder, dismemberment, and unspecified sexual crimes against Wall.

Reuters

Kim Wall and Peter Madsen

During their voyage together - which Wall undertook as part of a planned journalistic profile of Madsen - the Nautilus sank.

Madsen made it back to shore alive, but Kim died, the indictment says either from strangulation or having her throat cut.

Investigators dredged up the Nautilus from the bottom of the ocean to gather evidence for their case against him.

AP

A Danish salvage ship uses a crane to lift the Nautilus UC3 out of the sea for investigation.

He constructed the Nautilus more than a decade ago, and posed for publicity photos around the time of its launch in early 2008.

The vehicle has been photographed behind police tape and metal fencing in Copenhagen. On Tuesday, Copenhagen police released an update on the case which made public Madsen's indictment, and also contained prosecutors' intentions for the submarine.

It is not clear whether the court can rule on the submarine's fate separately to Madsen's trial, which is due to conclude in the spring.

Read more about the Kim Wall case here.

AP

The Nautilus UC3 rusts behind a fence and police tape after being pulled up from the sea floor.