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Mini-shoe fetishist busted for stealing 112 pairs of kid’s shoes

Bavarian police have arrested a 39-year old man who stole 112 pairs of children’s shoes for sexual pleasure, officers reported on Friday.

Published: 19 December 2008 15:20 CET

Mini-shoe fetishist busted for stealing 112 pairs of kid's shoes

Walking in their shoes: The secured stolen goods. Photo: PI Cham/OPf

The thief from the southern German Cham region had hoarded impressive amounts of kids footwear, backpacks and children’s t-shirts. The stolen goods were found stuffed in rubbish bags and boxes in his flat.

“The man had even deposited shoes in his bed,” police said in the statement.

Local police became suspicious after shoe thefts went up in the region and searched the apartment of the 39-year-old suspect. While questioning the alleged thief about his love of foot fashion, the officers were baffled when the builder told them he had started “collecting” shoes two years ago and expressed “sexual motives” for his actions.

“Most of the shoes were stolen from kindergartens or schools,” police said in the statement. While the man had purchased some pairs legally at bazaars and markets, he had also taken shoes from different children’s facilities in the region.

Police said they were interested in returning the shoes to their rightful owners. “Maybe the parents didn’t connect the missing shoes to a crime and just thought they have been carelessly misplaced,” the department said in the statement.

Parents whose children have mysteriously lost shoes can call the local police in Cham under 09971 / 85450.

Germany arrests Syrian man accused of plotting to kill soldiers

The suspect, an “alleged follower of a radical Islamic ideology”, was arrested on Thursday on charges of planning “a serious act of violence endangering the state”.

The man had acquired two heavy knives “around 40 centimetres (more than one foot) in length” in recent days, prosecutors in Munich said.

He planned to “attack Bundeswehr soldiers” in the city of Hof in northern Bavaria during their lunch break, aiming “to kill as many of them as possible”, prosecutors said.

“The accused wanted to attract attention and create a feeling of insecurity among the population,” they said.

German security services have been on high alert over the threat of Islamist attacks, in particular since the Gaza war erupted on October 7th with the Hamas attacks on Israel.

Police shot dead a man in Munich this month after he opened fire on officers in what was being treated as a suspected “terrorist attack” on the Israeli consulate in Munich.

The shootout fell on the anniversary of the kidnap and killing of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games by Palestinian militants.

The 18-year-old suspect had previously been investigated by authorities in his home country Austria on suspicion of links to terrorism but the case had been dropped.

The incident capped a string of attacks in Germany, which have stirred a sense of insecurity in Germany and fed a bitter debate of immigration.

Three people were killed last month in a suspected Islamist stabbing at a festival in the western city of Solingen.

READ ALSO: ‘Ban asylum seekers’ – How Germany is reacting to Solingen attack

The suspect in the attack, which was claimed by the Islamic State group, was a Syrian man who had been slated for deportation from Germany.

A federal interior ministry spokesman said if an Islamist motive was confirmed in the latest foiled attack, it would be “further evidence of the high threat posed by Islamist terrorism in Germany, which was recently demonstrated by the serious crimes in Mannheim and the attack in Solingen, but also by acts that were fortunately prevented by the timely intervention of the security authorities”.

The Solingen stabbing followed a knife attack in the city of Mannheim in May, which left a policeman dead, and which had also been linked to Islamism by officials.

Germany has responded to the attacks by taking steps to tighten immigration controls and knife laws.

READ ALSO: Debt, migration and the far-right – the big challenges facing Germany this autumn

The government has announced new checks along all of its borders and promised to speed up deportations of migrants who have no right to stay in Germany.

The number of people considered Islamist extremists in Germany fell slightly from 27,480 in 2022 to 27,200 last year, according to a report from the federal domestic intelligence agency.

But Interior Minister Nancy Faeser warned in August that “the threat posed by Islamist terrorism remains high”.

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