Jan Caubergh

{{Short description|Belgian serial killer (1934–2013)}}

{{Infobox serial killer

| name = Jan Caubergh

| image =

| image_size =

| caption =

| alt =

| birth_name = Jan Caubergh

| alias =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1934|09|18|df=y}}

| birth_place = Lanaken, Belgium

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2013|11|29|1934|09|18|df=y}}

| death_place = Bruges, Belgium

| conviction = Murder

| sentence = Death; commuted to life imprisonment

| victims = 3

| beginyear =

| endyear =

| country = Belgium

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| imprisoned =

}}

Jan Caubergh (18 September 1934 – 29 November 2013) was a Belgian serial killer. In 1966, he received 25 years of forced labour for his participation in a robbery in which his gang shot a nurse who was severely maimed and later committed suicide. In 1977 he was released on parole.

On 21 February 1979, he raped his pregnant neighbour, 19-year-old Yvonne Smits, shooting her in the back of the head afterwards. Later he strangled his girlfriend, 24-year-old Rina Van Geldorp and their five-month-old son Nicky. He also wounded a policeman with a Long Rifle, later rigging up his police car in an attempt to injure another two policemen. After a manhunt lasting several days in which he hid on barges on the Albert Canal and a bottle stopper factory in Deurne, he was arrested in a hotel in Athenembuurt, Antwerp.{{Cite web|url=http://www.gva.be/regio-antwerpen-noord/schoten/moordenaar-heeft-34-jaar-aan-mijn-hart-gevreten.aspx|title=Murderer has eaten my heart for 34 years|date=5 December 2013 |publisher=Gazet Van Antwerpen|access-date=5 December 2013|language=nl-be}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.nieuwsblad.be/article/detail.aspx?articleid=GMU2QVK4K|title=77-year-old multiple murderer is back again|date=June 2010 |publisher=Het Nieuwsblad|access-date=2 June 2010|language=nl-be}} He was given the death sentence, but it was later converted to a life imprisonment.

In 2003 Caubergh stabbed a prison guide with a cake knife during a trip out of the central prison in Leuven. The supervisor survived the attack. In September 2010, Caubergh received another 12 years in prison.{{Cite web|url=http://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20110513_050|title=They will never be released again|date=13 May 2011 |publisher=De Standaard|access-date=13 May 2011|language=nl-be}} He spent more than 45 years of his life in prison, the last 34 and a half of which were uninterrupted. That made him one of the longest-serving detainees in the country.

On 5 November 2013 several reports from the Belgian media announced that Caubergh had died in the penitentiary complex in Bruges.{{Cite web|url=http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/957/Binnenland/article/detail/1735616/2013/11/05/Seriemoordenaar-Jan-Caubergh-79-overleden-in-Brugse-gevangenis.dhtml|title=Serial killer Jan Caubergh (79) died in Bruges prison|publisher=Het Belang van Limburg|access-date=5 November 2013|language=nl-be}} This was denied a few days later by the Belgian Prison System.{{Cite web|url=http://www.telegraaf.nl/buitenland/22037346/__Beruchte_moordenaar_leeft__.html|title=Notorious Belgian murderer is still alive|publisher=De Telegraaf|access-date=7 November 2013|language=nl-be}} He eventually died on 29 November 2013. At that time he was the oldest detainee in Belgium.{{Cite web|url=http://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20131202_00868438|title=Oldest prisoner in the country died|date=3 December 2013 |publisher=De Standaard|access-date=3 December 2013|language=nl-be}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.nieuwsblad.be/article/detail.aspx?articleid=dmf20131202_00868413|title=The oldest Belgian serial killer dies in a cell|date=3 December 2013 |publisher=Het Nieuwsblad|access-date=3 December 2013|language=nl-be}}