A nurse who has reportedly claimed to have killed up to 20 patients has been released from jail where he was being held while the claims are investigated.

Theodorus V is suspected of killing the coronavirus patients while he worked on a specialist lung ward at the Wilhelmina hospital in Assen. He was arrested in April after telling staff at a mental health facility where he was being treated that he had ended the lives of his patients prematurely.

Although the public prosecution department suspects V of murder, the investigation so far has failed to come up with any “concrete cases”. Therefore the suspicions against him are “not strong enough” to remand him in custody for a further period, officials said.

V’s lawyer Tjalling van der Goot told Thursday’s remand hearing that his client has not committed any crimes. “My client disputes the clinic’s version,” he said. “These people did not die through his actions. He has done nothing wrong, just his job.”

The public prosecution department said it is continuing to question possible witnesses and that experts have not yet finished combing medical records.