A Danish father has contacted the police after reading his and his daughter’s death notices in the local newspaper. Claus Norgaard Nielsen, 35, and his 15-year-old daughter Michelle from Northern Jutland, almost chocked on their breakfast last week when reading in the Nordjyske Stiftstidende newspaper that they had died in “a tragic accident in Germany”.
To add insult to injury, when telephoning the local paper to ask who had placed the notice, Mr Nielsen found the cheeky culprits had asked for his home address to be billed for the advert.
Mr Nielsen, who is alive and well along with his daughter, told public broadcaster DR that they are both in shock over the morbid hoax. “It would take a very sick person to pull a prank like this,” he said.
Mr Nielsen has reported the incident to the police in the hope that they will track down the tricksters. “I have some general idea of who could have done such a sick thing, but I can’t single out anyone in particular at this point,” he said.
The notice was sent to the newspaper by text message from a prepaid phone card, leaving the police with no clues to follow.