Police divers in Denmark have found the severed head and legs of Kim Wall, the Swedish journalist who died on board the home-built submarine of Danish artist-inventor Peter Madsen.

Jens Møller Jensen, the chief investigator in the case, told journalists on Saturday that the head showed no signs of serious injury, contradicting Mr Madsen’s claims last month that Wall died after a heavy hatch fell onto her head.

“There are no signs of fractures to the skull, or signs of blows from a blunt instrument,” he said. “There are several minor injuries which I will not go into.”

Mr Madsen, 46, who is being held on suspicion of murder, told a court last month that he had entered a “suicidal psychosis” following the accident, and then “buried” Wall at sea.