TV4-profile internationally wanted – hiding abroad

Dermot Clemenger is now internationally wanted for crime, according to the prosecutor. The TV4-profile is suspected to be hiding abroad after being charged for a large number of sex purchases in Sweden.

In April this year, Dermot Clemenger admits in a police interrogation that he bought sex about 30 times at various Thai massage parlors around Sweden, mainly in Örebro where he resided, but also in Helsingborg, Stockholm, and Kumla.

– Most visits are spontaneous drop-ins. I have pre-booked sometimes as well, but the majority are spontaneous visits. The closest explanation for my behavior is like an alcoholic who can’t pass by a bar without having a drink, he tells the police.

During the interrogation, Clemenger is detained for a couple of days, but is then released. Shortly before Christmas this year, when charges are filed, the prosecutor wants to detain Clemenger, but he has left Sweden. According to the prosecutor, he is now internationally wanted.

“The actor”

Among the Thai prostitutes, Dermot Clemenger has been known as “the actor” as they recognized him from TV.

A woman tells how she gave him “extra massage” which he paid for in cash. The extra massage involved her “massaging the penis or masturbating him while exposing her body, for example by lifting her skirt so the man could touch her body while she masturbated him,” according to the police’s recorded interrogation.

Clemenger has had sexual chats with several of the women, sent at least one genital image, and written that he wants to “make love” with them.

Several Thai women testify in interrogations, without specifically pointing out Clemenger, about feeling forced to sell sexual services. That customers expect it, and not just regular massage, because they are Thai.

They tell that some customers refuse to pay for the regular massage or even become threatening if they don’t agree to sexual services.

Charges next year

Dermot Clemenger is a 51-year-old Irish citizen who is known as a judge in the TV4 program “Let’s Dance”. In August, TV4 announced that he is forced to leave the program. Clemenger then denied that he was fired, but no explanation was given for the sudden dismissal other than that “exciting changes” would be made.

Now Clemenger is suspected of evading Swedish justice abroad, either in his home country Ireland or in the UK. He is a citizen of both countries, and in the UK, the purchase of sex is not criminalized.

Main hearings against Dermot Clemenger are tentatively scheduled for next March, but according to media reports, the TV4-profile plans not to appear at the trial. Instead, there is speculation that he intends to stay away from Sweden until the sex purchases have expired.