North Zealand police appear to have found a man who terrorised families in the fashionable Charlottenlund suburb of Copenhagen late last year by sending letters demanding money.

The as yet unnamed Danish national is to be presented in a remand hearing today charged with blackmail.

Letters were sent to several families in Charlottenlund in December 2009 demanding DKK 215,000. If families did not pay, the letter said a member of their family would suffer.

“If you fail to comply – and we will find out – we will have to initiate the next step – which will be disabling a family member. Second step, if necessary, will be more fatal,” the letter said.

The letter, which was written in English, purported to come from foreigners who said they had have hired local hit-men to carry out threats.