Police: Danish submarine owner admits dismembering body of journalist Kim Wall

COPENHAGEN, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Danish inventor Peter Madsen has admitted to dismembering Swedish journalist Kim Wall on board his submarine in August and dumping her body parts in the sea, but he still denies killing her, police said on Monday.

The police said in a statement Madsen had told them in an Oct. 14 interrogation that Wall, 30, had died from carbon monoxide poisoning inside the submarine, while he was on the deck of the vessel.

SEE EARLIER: Kim Wall stabbed 15 times after boarding submarine for interview

In past court hearings, Madsen said that Wall had died accidentally after being hit by a heavy hatch cover on his UC3 Nautilus submarine.

The police also said on Monday they would now extend the charges against Madsen - which already include murder and mutilating Wall's body - to include sexual assault without intercourse, based on 14 interior and exterior stab wounds to the journalist's genitals.

Madsen denies the murder and sexual assault charges.

Wall, a freelance journalist who was researching a story on Madsen, went missing after he took her out to sea in the 17-metre (56-foot) submarine in August.

On Aug. 23, police identified a headless female torso that washed ashore in Copenhagen as Wall's.

Earlier this month police said they had also recovered Wall's head and legs. They said they found no skull fracture, despite Madsen's earlier account that she had been hit in the head by the hatch cover.

The submarine is one of three that Madsen built, and one of the largest privately built ones in the world. It could carry eight people and weighed 40 tonnes fully equipped.

Madsen has voluntarily accepted the prosecutor's request to extend his custody until Nov. 15, his lawyer said earlier on Monday, meaning he will not appear in court on Tuesday as initially planned. (Reporting by Julie Astrid Thomsen; Editing by Gareth Jones)