Clark Olofsson

Clark Oderth Olofsson (later known as Daniel Demuynck; born 1 February 1947) is a Swedish criminal.

He has received sentences for attempted murder, assault, robbery, and dealing narcotics, and has spent more than half of his life in prison in Sweden.

Olofsson has been called Sweden's first "celebrity gangster".

Olofsson faced a tumultuous childhood marked by familial challenges.

Growing up amidst extensive alcohol problems, he endured the departure of his father and his mother's subsequent illness, which led to the placement of Olofsson and his two younger sisters in foster care.

Determined to escape an unhappy foster family, Olofsson forged his mother's signature at the age of 15 and enrolled in a sailors' school.

Embarking on the ship Ballade, he sailed around the world, gaining a unique perspective between Japan and South America.

Returning home at 15, Olofsson reunited with his mother, who had regained stability.

Despite earlier adversities, the family settled in Gothenburg, where Olofsson's journey took a criminal turn.

Olofsson was born on 1 February 1947 in Trollhättan, Sweden, into a home with extensive alcohol problems.

Olofsson had two younger sisters.

His mother was a cashier and his father an asphalt worker.

When Clark was 11 years old, his father left the family and soon after, his mother fell ill and was admitted to Lillhagens psychiatric hospital in Hisings Backa.

Her problems led to the three children being placed in foster care.

Olofsson was unhappy in his foster family and to get out of there, he forged his mother's signature and enrolled in a sailors' school.

On the ship Ballade, a 14-year-old Olofsson sailed around the world, including between Japan and South America.

When he was 15, he disembarked from the boat and moved home to his mother, who had regained control of her life, and started working in a shop.

The children were returned to her care and they moved to an apartment in Slätta Damm on Hisingen, Gothenburg.

There he was a neighbor of future journalist Janne Josefsson.

The family later moved to Köldgatan in Biskopsgården.

Convicted for various offenses in the 1960s, including burglary and assault, Olofsson gained notoriety for his involvement in the killing of a police officer during a robbery.

Multiple prison escapes characterized his criminal career, with notable incidents like the Norrmalmstorg robbery, coining the term "Stockholm syndrome".

For several petty crimes, sixteen-year-old Olofsson was placed in a behavioural institution for young offenders in 1963.

Olofsson and two other boys escaped from the institution in August 1965 and entered the country estate of Swedish Prime Minister Tage Erlander at Harpsund, where they stole grapes, cucumbers and tomatoes from the greenhouse.

They fled when the gardener discovered them.

Three months later, Olofsson assaulted two police officers in Eskilstuna.

On 4February 1966, he was sentenced to three years in prison; this was his third sentence and his first real prison sentence.

In late 1966, he made his first escape from the prison at Tidaholm.

On 29July 1966, police officers Ragnar Sandahl and Lennart Mathiasson responded to a burglary at a bicycle shop at Skjutsaregatan in Nyköping.

Sandahl was shot and killed by Gunnar Norgren.

The other burglar was Olofsson, who became a nationally known criminal.

Norgren was arrested on 16August that year in an apartment at Utåkersgatan 4 in Kålltorp, Gothenburg and later confessed to the murder.

The apartment belonged to a boyfriend of Olofsson's sister.

Norgren gave up after the police fired several shots through the door to the apartment.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Olofsson continued a pattern of escapes, criminal activities, and imprisonments, marked by a marriage in Kumla Prison.

Despite his turbulent criminal history, Olofsson pursued education, studying journalism while incarcerated.

Released in 1983, he left Sweden with his wife, settling in Belgium.

However, his criminal activities persisted, resulting in a drug smuggling conviction in 1999.

The subsequent decades saw Olofsson's involvement in various criminal enterprises, leading to multiple arrests, imprisonments, and deportation.

His life story, filled with escapes, convictions, and legal battles, became the subject of films, documentaries, and a Netflix drama series in 2022, portraying the complex and notorious figure of Clark Olofsson.