Gråsten Abduction: Christina Block on Trial in Hamburg
Gråsten, Denmark, and Hamburg, Germany, 2023-2026: trial ongoing, no verdict
Published May 11, 2026
Quick Facts
The case in brief
The Gråsten abduction is the case of two children, aged 10 and 13, who were taken from their father, Stephan Hensel, by masked men in Gråsten, Denmark, on New Year's night 2023/2024. Their mother, Christina Block, daughter of Block House founder Eugen Block, is on trial at the Regional Court (Landgericht) of Hamburg, accused of commissioning the operation. Her lawyers deny any involvement. As of July 2026 the trial had run for 63 hearing days and no verdict had been announced. Block is presumed innocent. KrimiNyt does not publish the children's names.
The night in Gråsten
On New Year's night 2023, the father, living in Gråsten in southern Jutland, had the two children in his care when several masked men attacked him. Two of them injured him with blows and kicks. One of the children activated an emergency transmitter that the Danish police had given the children, but the police could not arrive in time. The children were taken away; according to German reporting, they had to cross the border on foot through a forest, and the men taped their mouths and threatened them. The men then drove them in a motorhome some 800 kilometres to Baden-Württemberg, and on 2 January 2024 they brought the mother and children to the border between Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein.
The custody dispute behind the case
Christina Block and Stephan Hensel were married from 2005 to 2018, separated in 2014 and have four children. After a weekend visit in August 2021, the father did not return the two youngest children to their mother. In October 2021 the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court provisionally gave Block the sole right to decide where the children live. In February 2022 a Danish court ruled that the children could not be returned against their will, and the Vestre Landsret in Viborg confirmed that decision. In November 2022 Block travelled to Denmark with bodyguards to contact the children; Hensel regarded this as an attempted abduction.
Timeline
Two children abducted from their father in Gråsten
On New Year's night 2023/2024, masked men attack the father, Stephan Hensel, and take the two children, then aged 10 and 13, from Gråsten in Denmark.
Children reach their mother in Hamburg
On 2 January 2024 the men bring the children to the border between Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, where their mother Christina Block receives them.
Hamburg court orders the children back to their father
On 5 January 2024, the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court in Hamburg rules in the father's favour. The children are returned to Denmark the same day.
Trial begins at the Regional Court in Hamburg
On 11 July 2025 the trial of Christina Block and six other defendants begins. It was originally scheduled for 37 days. Block's lawyers deny that she commissioned the abduction.
Block denies knowledge of the abduction in court
According to TV 2 on 15 July 2025, Christina Block states in court that she had no knowledge of the violent abduction in Gråsten.
After the abduction
On 4 January 2024 the Danish authorities issued a European arrest warrant for Block. On 5 January 2024 the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court in Hamburg ruled in favour of the father and ordered Block to hand over the children. Lawyers brought them back to Denmark the same day. The Danish authorities lifted the arrest warrant some months later. In February 2024 the Higher Regional Court held that German courts were no longer competent in the custody dispute, because the children had their established home in Denmark. The Federal Constitutional Court declined to hear Block's complaint in April 2025. In May 2025 the court in Sønderborg awarded Hensel sole custody of both children and withdrew the mother's right of contact; the Vestre Landsret upheld this in November 2025.
The criminal case
In April 2025 the Hamburg Public Prosecutor General charged Block, her partner, the former television presenter Gerhard Delling, and five other people with aggravated child abduction (schwere Entziehung Minderjähriger), dangerous bodily harm, deprivation of liberty and aggravated abuse of persons in one's care. Andreas Costard, the family's long-time lawyer, is among the co-defendants. The trial opened on 11 July 2025 and was originally scheduled for 37 days. Block's lawyers state that she never ordered third parties to bring her children from Denmark to Hamburg by force.
The proceedings have lasted much longer than planned. By 27 July 2026 the court had held 63 hearing days with seven defendants in total. Witnesses testified in early 2026, among them a man who is said to have led the team that carried out the abduction. This article does not repeat their accusations: they are testimony in a trial that has not ended, and the court has not ruled on them.
Status
The court had said it was in the final phase of the trial and had provisionally scheduled hearing days until shortly before Christmas 2026. When a verdict will be handed down remains open. The Danish custody rulings and the Hamburg criminal trial are separate matters: the first concerns where the children live, the second whether Block and the others committed crimes.
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