Danish artist and inventor Peter Madsen has told a court that he disposed of the body of journalist Kim Wall in a state of “suicidal psychosis”, after a heavy hatch to the command tower in his home-built submarine UC3 Nautilus dropped onto her head and killed her.

In his first public statement since Wall's torso was discovered on August 21, Madsen denied cutting off the 30-year-old’s head, arms and legs, but admitted to weighing down her body by tying weights around her waist.

Asked why he had not contacted the authorities as soon as the accident happened, he claimed that he had not been thinking rationally.