Mummy's boy who lurched to the Right was 'privileged' son of diplomat
*MKILETEWA HAPA NA FLORA LYIMO DESIGNER*Anders Behring Breivik is a diplomat's son who spent the first year of his life in London.
A wealth of details has emerged about the privileged life of the 32-year-old, much of it from his rambling online 'manifesto'.
Described by friends as a 'mummy's boy' who did not leave home until the age of 30, he had few friends and no serious girlfriends and his writings betray a deep bitterness at being abandoned by his father at the age of 15.
Family: Anders Behring Breivik (L) posted this picture at the bottom of his manifesto which is believed to be his sister Elisabeth and mother Wenche Behring;
Breivik was born in February 1979. His father Jens was an economist at the Norwegian Embassy in London.
His parents split when he was just a year old, and his father remained in London, while Anders and his mother Wenche Behring, a nurse, moved back to Oslo, along with her daughter Elisabeth from a previous relationship.
They settled in a rented apartment where he stayed with his 64-year-old mother until just two years ago, his sister having moved to California.
Jens remained in London and married a fellow embassy worker, Tove Øvermo. They fought for custody of Anders but failed, and moved to Paris when he was transferred to the Norwegian Embassy there. Anders regularly visited them in Paris and their holiday home in Normandy. They divorced when he was 12.
In his memoir Breivik blames his father for their estrangement after he was caught spraying graffiti on walls in his early teens. He writes: ‘I have not spoken to my father since he isolated himself when I was 15 – he was not very happy about my graffiti phase from 13 to 16.
Manifesto of terror: Anders Behring Breivik poses in a wetsuit holding an automatic weapon in a YouTube video posted six hours before the deadly attacks;
‘He has four children but has cut contact with all of them. So it is pretty clear whose fault that was.
‘I tried contacting him five years ago but he said he was not mentally prepared for a reunion.’
Yesterday his stunned father, who is in his 70s, was preparing to travel to Norway to meet police. He learned about his son’s crimes while browsing the news on the internet and told reporters he was shocked and horrified.
At his bungalow close to the Pyrenees, he said: ‘I view this atrocity with absolute horror. My condolences go out to all those who have suffered because of this. I am in a state of shock and have not recovered.’
Aged 14, Breivik had been best friends with a boy from Pakistan but they stopped speaking soon after the breakdown of the relationship with his father.
Breivik wrote that his parents supported the policies of the Norwegian Labour Party and his mother was a moderate feminist.
Poses: Breivik wore military style uniforms in photos included in the 12-minute YouTube video;
Despite his close relationship with his mother, he would later rage against his liberal upbringing. He writes: ‘I do not approve of the super-liberal, matriarchal upbringing as it completely lacked discipline and has contributed to feminise me to a certain degree.’
He also criticised his sister for having too many sexual partners, and condemned his mother’s ‘lack of judgment’ in marrying his stepfather Tore, a major in the Norwegian military.
Although he described Tore as ‘very likeable’, he was also a ‘very primitive sexual beast’ who after they split up was ‘spending his retirement with prostitutes in Thailand’.
'Although I care for her a great deal, I wouldn’t hold it against the KT (Knights Templar) if she was executed during an attack.’
- Breivik on his stepmother Tove
He remained on good terms with his stepmother Tove even though his descriptions of her make chilling reading. She worked for the government department dealing with applications from immigrants.
He described her as ‘very intelligent’, but added that she was obviously a ‘traitor’ and a willing participant in the ‘indirect genocide of Norwegians through the continued Islamisation of Norway’.
He wrote: ‘Although I care for her a great deal, I wouldn’t hold it against the KT (Knights Templar) if she was executed during an attack.’
Friends said he became involved with right-wing extremism in his late 20s and one source said he attended neo-Nazi events.
Breivik bragged how he dodged his mandatory military service in the Norwegian Army three times by claiming he would not put his life on the line for Norway’s political parties.
On his Facebook page he claimed to be a classical music fan and admirer of Winston Churchill, as well as expressing an interest in the TV series Dexter about a serial killer, and a television drama about vampires. He was a Freemason at the St John’s lodge in Oslo.
Two years ago he moved to the small town of Rune, north-east of Oslo, to start a farming business … giving him the cover to buy fertiliser for bombs.
'Absolute horror': Father of Norwegian gunman speaks out about his son's crimes.
The father of Norwegian gunman Anders Behring Breivik has spoken of his 'absolute horror' of his son's crimes.Jens Breivik, who is in his 70s and living in the Aude region of south west France, also offered his condolences to the family and friends of his 93 murder victims.
The retired diplomat, who worked at the Norwegian embassy in both London and Paris, is now planning to travel to Norway, where he will be met by police.
Estranged: The house of Anders Behring Breivik's father Jens, in Cournanel, southern France;
He said: 'I view this atrocity with absolute horror. My condolences go out to all those who have suffered because of this. I am in a state of shock and have not recovered.'
Mr Breivik has been estranged from his son for at least 16 years, and only learnt about the killings when he was browsing the news online.
When he realised his son was involved he 'froze and could barely speak,' said another family member in France.
'He will never come to terms with something like this.'
Mr Breivik had three children from a previous marriage - Erik, Jan and Nina - when he met Anders's mother, Wenche Behring, who had a daughter from a previous relationship.
Mr Beivik divorced Wenche when Anders was just one, and went on to marry Tove Xvermo, another embassy worker.
Arrival: French gendarmes at the house of Jens Breivik in Cournanel, southern France;
Anders became the subject of a custody battle, as Mr Beivik and his new wife wanted to raise him in Paris, but they lost their case.
'We never lived together, but we had contact during his childhood,' Mr Beivik told the Norwegian newspaper, Verdens Gang.
'When he was young he was a very ordinary boy. He was not interested in politics at the time.'
'His house was bought from an English couple a year ago. The shutters are drawn at the moment, and I don't think anyone has been there since Saturday.'
- Cournanel village mayor Alain Costes
Mr Breivik now lives in a modest two bedroomed bungalow in the village of Cournanel, close to the Pyrenees near Carcassonne, in south west France.
Tonight the house was deserted, with its shutters closed and its main gate locked.
Mr Breivik has lived in Cournanel, which has a population of 503, for the past year.
Alain Costes, the village mayor, said: 'I understand that this gentleman, a Norwegian who moved into our village a year ago to spend his retirement, is the father of the man arrested in Norway.
'His house was bought from an English couple a year ago. The shutters are drawn at the moment, and I don't think anyone has been there since Saturday.'
A neighbour described Mr Breivik as a 'refined, polite man' who spoke good French and English.
'He was a pleasure to have around - he didn't have many visitors. This is a huge shock,' the neighbour added.
As a child, Anders used to visit his father at his flat in Paris, and at a holiday home in Normandy, western France.
Mr Breivik, a past supporter of the Norwegian Labour Party, was a commercial advisor for the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, attached to the embassies in London and Paris.
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