Dennis Nilsen - Conversations with Britain's most evil serial killer

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History of a Drowning Boy - taken exclusively from these astonishing writings - uncovers, for the first time, the motives behind the murders, and delivers a clear understanding of how such horrific events could have happened, tracing the origins back to early childhood. In late 1980, Nilsen removed and dissected the bodies of each victim killed since December 1979 and burned them upon a communal bonfire he had constructed on waste ground behind his flat.

Nilsen passed the entrance examinations and received official notification he was to enlist for nine years' service in September 1961, commencing his training with the Army Catering Corps at St.Several days later, the pair viewed a vacant ground floor flat at 195 Melrose Avenue, also in Cricklewood, and they decided to move into the property. He died in 2018, entrusting the manuscript to his closest friend and it is now being published with the latter's permission. Holmes encountered Nilsen in the Cricklewood Arms pub, where Holmes had unsuccessfully attempted to purchase alcohol. The body was repeatedly kissed, complimented and caressed by Nilsen, both before and after he had masturbated while sitting upon the stomach of the corpse. As Nilsen progressed into adolescence, he found life in Strichen increasingly stifling, with limited entertainment amenities or career opportunities.

One bereaved relative said it was as if Nilsen is “still laughing at us from beyond the grave”, while the sister of survivor Carl Stottor suggested the book was “morally wrong”. Prior to moving into Melrose Avenue, Nilsen negotiated a deal with the landlord whereby he and Gallichan had exclusive use of the garden at the rear of the property. He said: “Bit by bit, he would hand out materials as they accumulated, so every few months he would hand out big boxes because he couldn’t keep them in the cell. He was tried at the Old Bailey before Mr Justice Croom-Johnson [141] and pleaded not guilty on all charges. After caressing the sleeping youth, Nilsen decided Holmes was to "stay with me over the New Year whether he wanted to or not".Nilsen's murders were first discovered by a Dyno-Rod employee, Michael Cattran, who responded to the plumbing complaints made by both Nilsen and other tenants of Cranley Gardens on 8 February 1983. In an interview conducted on 10 February, Nilsen confessed there were further human remains stowed in a tea chest in his living room, with other remains inside an upturned drawer in his bathroom. The following morning, both men agreed to live together in a larger residence and Nilsen—using part of the inheritance bequeathed to him by his father [48]—immediately resolved to find a larger property. Noting conflicting details in accounts given by both men, police had dismissed the incident as a lovers' quarrel. The primary dispute between the prosecuting and defence counsel was not whether Nilsen had killed the victims, but his state of mind before and during the killings.

Formal identification was confirmed via a combination of circumstantial evidence and by Nilsen identifying a photograph of the youth shown to him by police (all bone fragments found at Melrose Avenue had been destroyed). That evening, Detective Superintendent Chambers accompanied DCI Jay and Bowen to Cranley Gardens, where the plastic bags were removed from the wardrobe and taken to Hornsey mortuary. DCI Jay then recounted the circumstances of Nilsen's arrest and his "calm, matter-of-fact" confessions, before reading to the court several statements volunteered by Nilsen following his arrest. Upon learning the young man was a tourist, Nilsen offered to show Ockenden several London landmarks, an offer which Ockenden accepted.

These remains were taken to the mortuary at Hornsey, where pathologist David Bowen advised police that the remains were human, [115] and that one particular piece of flesh he concluded had been from a human neck bore a ligature mark. It also reveals the truth behind many of the myths surrounding Dennis Nilsen, as reported in the media. Upon hearing Cattran exclaim how similar the substance was in appearance to human flesh, Nilsen replied: "It looks to me like someone has been flushing down their Kentucky Fried Chicken.

What this book offers, though, is an insight into how those killings are comprehended and understood by the killer in retrospect. Nilsen became known as the Muswell Hill Murderer, as he committed his later murders in the Muswell Hill district of North London.The remains stowed inside suitcases—those of Ockenden and Duffey—were placed inside a shed in the rear garden, and were disposed of upon the second bonfire Nilsen had constructed at Melrose Avenue. In mid-1964, Nilsen passed his initial catering exam and was officially assigned to the 1st Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers in Osnabrück, West Germany, where he served as a private.