The 46-year-old Wim S. was acquitted on appeal on Wednesday of the murder of his then girlfriend Heidy Goedhart in 2010. The Public Prosecution Service had demanded 17.5 years in prison against the man in January. According to the Court of Appeal in The Hague, by applying the so-called ‘Mr. Big method’ S. possible seduced under pressure to a confession, and the remaining evidence was insufficient to convict him. S. reiterated his innocence in court in January and said Goedhart was murdered by a burglar.
Also read: mr. Big method: first you lure the suspect with money, then you make him confess
Goedhart was beaten on the head with a stone and strangled in the garden of their home in Kaatsheuvel on December 19, 2010. The suspicion of the police soon fell on her boyfriend S., but there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him. For that reason, the police started an undercover operation in 2013, in which officers called Mr. Big method followed. A suspect is offered money in exchange for a confession.
In September 2014, the financially distressed S. in Marbella, Spain, confessed to the murder to the undercover agents, who offered him a job. In 2018 he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In 2019, however, the Supreme Court decided to quash this ruling, partly because Mr. Big method according to experts increases the risk of a false confession. According to the council, it was better to find out how much the agents exercised on S. to make him confess.