Björn Olsen
© Ulf Palm/TTBjörn Olsen makes an insulting gesture at reporters during his remand hearing.
A Swede who brutally murdered his girlfriend with an axe has has expressed his surprise at the "amazingly good" life he leads behind bars.

Björn Olsen, who left the body of girlfriend Therese Palmkvist rotting in their cellar for four months, said he was "extremely satisfied" with his treatment.

"It's actually amazingly good how we have it here," he wrote in a letter to a relative, obtained by the Expressen newspaper. "It's like you'd almost rather be here than free on the outside."

"So it's nice here, it's pretty cushty. Good gym. Nice food. Totally OK job where you work with ceramics," he said, although he also wrote that "not much happens."

He and other inmates, could, he said, "play guitar, drums, piano, go to the gym, watch films, read books, study maths and stuff. Just chill."

Olsen is serving his sentence at Hall Prison outside Södertälje (pictured below), a maximum security prison which is one of Sweden's largest.
Prison
He was sentenced to 16 years in prison earlier this year for murdering his girlfriend with an axe at their home in Långshyttan in Dalarna, pictured below, in the autumn of 2016

House
© Ulf Palm/TT
After the murder Olsen hid in a caravan in the woods until he was discovered by police and arrested a week after Palmkvist's body was discovered.

"What's happened has happened," he said in a police interview shortly afterwards, admitting what he had done.

He made a special request to be placed together with other men who had murdered their wives and girlfriends.

When Expressen sent a letter to Olsen, he confirmed that he was "very pleased" with his punishment.

"I didn't even want to appeal it to the Supreme Court but my lawyer did it anyway," he said.

Palmkvist's father said he was not surprised that Olsen was happy.

"What can you say about that?" he said. "You might expect that he'd like it there, that it's nice for him. He has food and stuff. It's like a hotel for him."