Dutch celeb OK with extortionist suspect release; Dementia questioned

Linda de Mol will abide by the Public Prosecutor's decision to release 70 year old Dirk Klaas M., her manager Xenia Kasper told RTL Boulevard. "Linda has nothing more to add to the statement." M. extorted Linda and her brother John de Mol last year, threatening to harm Linda's children if they did not transfer a large amount of money into his bank account. The 70 year old man from Zeist was released on Thursday as he is suffering from a severe form of dementia. Doctors believe that his condition would only deteriorate if he was forced to stay in the cell. Philip Scheltens, a prominent neurologist of the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, has doubts about M.'s sudden dementia prognosis. "This just suddenly falls from the sky, strange. Apparently on the authority of a psychiatrist and psychologist on behalf of the court. I was very surprised." he said to De Telegraaf. "A person who willfully blackmails another person makes a plan, prepares everything in detail, a very deliberate action thus. That is almost incompatible with the image of dementia." Dr. Felix van der Wissel explained this in RTL, stating that a person suffering from early dementia can function reasonably well in their own surroundings. "But the moment you take them out of that environment, there are no more connections to make, they have no more checkpoints and then suddenly rapid deterioration occurs. It may be that's why they want him back in his own environment."