Woman's astonishing ordeal in THIS phone box kitted out as a soundproof cell in torture chamber flat fitted with bombs

Kidnapper stalked woman and had 'vast array' of torture devices in his flat

He intended to keep victim for 'some time' and detonate bombs when he had finished



A man described as a ‘cold sadist’ imprisoned a woman in his home-made torture chamber rigged with eight bombs designed to detonate when he had finished with her.

Thomas Fischer, 30, turned his tiny flat into a terrifying lair in which he had installed an old soundproofed telephone box to lock up his victim.

He used an assortment of scalpels, needles and syringes to practise with on a mannequin before snatching the woman off a street in Hamburg.

Chilling: Police examine the soundproofed phone box which 'sadistic' Thomas Fischer used as a torture chamber

Macabre: Fischer has been detained in a psychiatric hospital for keeping a woman imprisoned in his Hamburg flat

But while it appeared he had been planning to imprison her for a number of months, she was only in his clutches for two hours – after he forgot to lock the door to the ‘cell’.

The 26-year-old victim, who was handcuffed, managed to flee by lunging through a window of the ground-floor flat.

Fischer tore into the street after her but she outran him and fled to the safety of a friend’s home.

She brought police to the apartment, where Fischer had returned. He has not said a word since he was arrested.

Police searching the flat were said to be left speechless by the macabre set-up.

The outside of the windows were criss-crossed with barbed wire and sealed on the inside with baking foil and clingfilm. A hand grenade and Walther pistol were also found.

The cupboards were stocked with tinned food, rice and pasta as ‘if he was prepared for a long time indoors’.

The fertiliser-based bombs, which were packed into fire extinguishers, were so volatile police had to evacuate 300 people when his flat was searched. Fischer had apparently made them using recipes he found on the internet.

Police said he and the woman knew each other after being introduced by a friend, but that there was ‘definitely no relationship’ and that Fischer had become obsessed with ‘owning’ her and stalked her.



Some media reports said he wanted to get her pregnant after kidnapping her off the street on Friday.

He rigged up a camera outside the door to his 88 sq ft flat so he could observe who was trying to get in and had huge planks stored in the basement designed to seal the windows.



Senior public prosecutor Wilhelm Möllers said: ‘It is evident the apartment was meant as a place of confinement for some time.’

Fischer, who was back in his apartment with his weapons when police arrived, has not said a word since he was arrested.

Evidence: Police remove the 'cell' from a window of the ground floor flat

Armed: Fischer's flat was filled with dangerous items including a Walther pistol similar to this one (file photograph)

A hand grenade was discovered in the flat as well as fire extinguishers which had been modified to create home-made bombs



A jobless gardener using the pseudonym Holger told the Hamburger Morgenpost newspaper he has known Fischer for three years.

He said: ‘Thommy is a complete cold sadist. I never once saw him smile. He has no heart. This pig has plotted this crime for years.’



The man met Fischer at the Mahlzeit hostel in the Altona district, where Fischer would buy drinks for homeless people.



Holger went on: ‘He came every Monday wearing a military-style jacket. He drank a coffee and ogled the women. He never said a word about himself.

Bombs: A German police officer removes a hand grenade from the flat, which had been rigged with explosives

Desperate: The woman escaped from the apartment by diving through a barbed wire-covered window

‘Instead he always asked me and my friends, “Where can I get a gun around here?” He asked us if we could get dentist tools from the flea market for him.

‘He was not playing with a full deck – you didn’t have to be a shrink to see that. He once brought a rabbit into the pub in a box. “Please kill it for me,” he said. “I want to eat.”

‘He didn’t have a job but said he sold old Nazi uniforms on the web for good money. He’d buy us beers but he didn’t drink. If a woman joined us he froze. He had never had sex, he told us that.