Updated 2026-01-14 | Published 2026-01-04
Quietly, “The Butcher from Enköping” has broken records for Swedish correctional services.
With 36 years, he has been inside the longest of all.
And no release is in sight.
Tommy Alexandersson, 77, has spent half his life in prison.
In 1989 he was sentenced to life in prison for five murders, which have been described as some of the most brutal in modern Swedish criminal history.
Five murders in five months
In May 1988, he murdered two people, his then-girlfriend and a landlord, by slitting their throats. The landlord was also hit in the head with an iron. After the murders, he put the dead bodies on the bed in the bedroom, poured gasoline over them and set them alight.
Alexandersson was arrested, but the evidence against him was not considered valid in the district court. Therefore, he was released pending a verdict from the Court of Appeal.
With only a few days on the loose, in September 1988, he committed three more murders. With a meat axe, he hacked to death a 74-year-old man, the man’s 47-year-old son and his 25-year-old girlfriend.
Afterwards, he poured t-spirit over the bodies and set them on fire. Fire department smoke divers found the woman dead on the floor, with the ax still in her throat.
Police criminologist Anders Östlund says that Tommy Alexandersson stands out because he murdered so many and because the murders were so brutal.
– The question is whether I can recall someone who is convicted of so many murders in Sweden.
He mentions Mattias Flink, who shot dead seven people in Falun in 1994, but he was released after 20 years. In the same year, Tommy Zethraeus murdered four people in a shooting at Stureplan.
Tommy Alexandersson was known among drug addicts in Enköping, where he lived, because he was both fit and violent.
– Alexandersson was feared, even among other criminals. In the environment he moved in, he was feared, precisely because he was completely fearless.
“Belongs to the old guard”
Anders Östlund describes Alexandersson as a type of criminal that no longer exists.
– He belongs to the old guard, like Christer Pettersson and Svartenbrandt.
Östlund also points out that it was not better before, something many seem to believe today. According to statistics from Brå there have never been as many murders in Sweden as during the years 1988 to 1991, given the amount of population. But the murders had a different character than today. They were rarely particularly premeditated and were often linked to drunkenness and drugs.
Alexandersson applied to have his life sentence time-limited four times. The latest was 2022. On the first three occasions, the risk that Alexandersson would relapse into serious crime was considered high, according to the decisions. In 2022, the risk level was lowered to “medium high”, which was not enough to make the sentence time-limited.
The answer to the prosecutor: Ridiculous question
According to the Swedish Medicines Agency’s statement from 2022, Alexandersson had a personality disorder with psychopathic traits. He still had difficulty following rules that he himself did not perceive as relevant. He was also judged to lack the ability to see problems in his own behavior.
– I will be ready for the retirement home soon, he said to Örebro District Court, which took up his application.
– I have been drug-free for almost 25 years and I don’t smoke either. I have grown from it.
Tommy Alexandersson himself did not consider that he would have any problems with meeting society.
Instead, he dismissed a number of questions from the prosecutor. Among other things, when she wondered what strategies he has for dealing with people who have a different opinion than himself, if he were to be released into freedom.
– I cannot answer that question, because I think it is ridiculous.
The drainage should be completed quickly, he said.
Until 2019, Alexandersson had only been in institutions with the highest security class, class 1, but in 2020 he was allowed to move to institutions with lower security. Since 2020, he has been in Västervik norra, which is a so-called class 2 institution.
Freedom will be delayed
Previously were life sentences Leif Axmyr the one who was imprisoned the longest in Sweden. He was convicted of double murder in 1982. When he was released in 2016, aged 77, he had served 34 years. This corresponds to a prison sentence of 51 years, in Sweden.
If Alexandersson were to be released in 2026, it would correspond to a sentence of 55 years, but since he did not apply for a fixed sentence after the rejection in 2022, there is currently nothing to suggest that he will be released in the foreseeable future.
During 2024 and 2025, he has had regular leaves of absence, about four times a year. The last leave was in November 2025.
