The Crime Web: Dennis Nilsen

Dennis Andrew Nilsen was born on November 23, 1945 to Betty and Olav Nilsen. Betty was from Frazebrugh, Scotland and had met Olav, a Norwegian soldier in a cafe in England in 1940. Olav had moved to Scotland after the German invasion in 1940. The couple were married in 1942.

Dennis was the couple's second child of three. But despite being married, Betty and Olav did not live together most of the time.

Betty lived with her parents - Andrew and Lilly Whyte - and rarely saw Olav who seldom visited. After eight years the couple divorced.

Betty and her two sons and daughter remained at the Whyte's residence. The Whytes were a deep-seated sea-faring family. And had been for many generations.

The community were all of a similar background and there was a lot of in-breeding resulting in a history of mental illness in many of the families including the Whytes.

Dennis' grandparents were a strong influence on the young boy. They were strict but loving grandparents and Dennis quickly developed their argumentative nature and stern independance.

The family was also incredibly religious. Lily would not allow cooking on Sundays and did not approve of any self-indulgent pleasures such as cinema, radio or drinking of alcohol.

The lack of entertainment and enjoyment made Dennis withdrawn, he became sullen and moody, keeping to himself mostly. But if he did speak to anyone it was usually his grandfather Andrew, who Dennis idolised.

When Andrew died at sea in 1951 his body was transported home and was placed in a coffin on the dining room table.

Dennis was not told of his grandfather's death until he was told to come and see him - dead on the kitchen table.

So at the tender age of six, seeing his grandfather's corpse had a lasting effect on Dennis. From that moment on, Dennis always associated love and death as part of the same.

Without his grandfather around, Dennis withdrew even further into his own world. He had few friends and kept to himself at school. He felt different to the others at school and as he began puberty he found her preferred males to the girls that the others talked about.

In 1961 at the age of 15 he left school and immediately enlisted in the army. He was given a position in the catering corps where he was quite popular.

He travelled with the army to Europe and the Middle East. During his years with the catering corps he became a dab-hand with a knife and could dissect meat with a gift of precision.

In the army, Dennis was happy for a while, he even had a close friend. Dennis was a dab photographer and persuanded his friend to pose for photos in the battlefields like a fallen soldier. It was the closest Dennis was to the action at the time.

At the age of 21, Dennis was out of barracks after dark in Aden, where the British forces were fighting against Arab terrorists. Being out at night was not advisable.

Being quite intoxicated, Dennis caught a taxi back to barracks but fell asleep on the way.

When he woke, he found himself naked and in the trunk of a car. Keeping his wits about him, he played dead as someone opened the trunk. As his captor grabbed him and tried to drag him out, Nilsen hit the man over the head with the car wheel jack, knocking the man unconcious. Dennis quickly dressed and returned to barracks. The incident had spooked him. He found himself panicky and nervous. He had nightmares of being raped, tortured or murdered.

By the age of 26 Nilsen left the army disillusioned over their treatment of others. He quickly joined the police force in 1972.

As police constable Q287 Nilsen was assigned to Willesden Green police station. But the police service lacked the mateship of the army. He also did not like the roughness of some of the other officers when interrogating suspects.

The next position that Nilsen held was with the Jobcentre interviewing applications for ions vacant. He became quite popular with the applicants and with his keen interest in unionism became the secretary of the public service union branch.

His own time was spent in pubs in SoHo and Camden Town, where he would meet men for sex or, preferably for conversation.

Back in his professional life he became increasingly more political often participating in demos for workers rights, but he was still a meticulous worker though somewhat erratic. His demeanour could change from gentle and meek to hot-tempered in a short period of time.

In 1975, Nilsen met David Gallichan outside a pub. The two men hit it off instantly that they moved in together the next day. Making their little family complete with a dog named Bleep and a cat.

Unfortunately the relationship did not last as long as Nilsen would have hoped years the men parted ways.

By 1978 Nilsen again felt isolated and continued his search for companionship. He met men in pubs regularly but nothing ever came of it. He felt even worse after spending Christmas 1978 home alone.

On New Year's Eve Nilsen met up with a young Irish man at a pub. The two men returned to Nilsen's apartment at 195 Melrose Avenue in London to continue drinking and see the new year in together.

The men drank heavily and fell into bed, both falling asleep almost instantly. When Nilsen woke during the night he panicked that the fun would stop and the young man would leave, leaving Nilsen alone once more.

Nilsen spotted one of his ties on the floor and instantly the answer came to him. Nilsen grabbed the tie and straddled the man's chest. He looped the tie around the Irishman's throat and pulled tight. The victim woke instantly and struggled with Nilsen who just pulled tighter on the tie.

The men fell to the floor and Nilsen's victim went limp, but still made shallow gasps. Nilsen went and got a bucket of water from the kitchen and held the Irishman's head in the water until he was sure the man was dead.

During the day Nilsen took the bathroom, and washed it and dressed it before putting the corpse back into the his bed and slept beside it.

The next morning Nilsen knew he had to hide the body. Under the floorboards was a good temporary solution but the rigor mortis had set in making the body difficult to move.

When the rigor had subsided, Nilsen undressed and bathed the body again. And again placed it in his bed, where he laid down next to it and masturbated.

The man's death - though fulfilling sexual fantasies for Nilsen - also scared him. He expected to be arrested at any moment. But the police never came.

After a week of living with the corpse, cleaning it, sitting and watching TV together, he put it under the floorboards where it remained for eight months. Then in August 1979 he wrapped it in a curtain and put it on a bonfire in the back garden which he had full reign over - and had become increasingly overgrown, giving him perfect cover from prying eyes.

In October 1979, Nislen brought home another date. Chinese student Adnrew Ho. The two men ended up having an argument at the flat, and Nilsen produced a tie and wrapped it around the man's neck before he had a chance to defend himself.

But Ho quickly put up a fight and managed to escape the killer's hold. Ho reported the the incident to police who subsequently interviewed Nilsen about the assault. However the police chose not to pursue the complaint.

Kenneth Ockenden, a Canadian tourist met Nilsen in a pub in SoHo in December. The two men chatted freely and Nilsen agreed to show Ockenden around London as he was leaving England soon.

By early evening the men returned to Nilsen's falt for something to eat. As the night progressed, Nilsen knew the fun would come to an end and Ockenden would leave soon. The two men were incredibly drunk by this stage and Ockenden relaxed in a chair listening to music on the head phones.

Nilsen went over to him and put the headphone cord around Ockenden's neck and pulled it tight. As the two men struggled and fought, Nilsen's dog Bleep barked frantically, however the neighbours never came to check to see if there was anything wrong.

Once Ockenden was dead, Nilsen sat calmly, poured himself another drink and listened to the music piping through the headphones.

Later in the evening, Nilsen bathed and dried the body and placed the man in his bed and fell asleep cuddled up to him. The next day before leaving for work, Nilsen placed Ockenden's body in the cupboard.

After work Nilsen retrieved the body from the cupboard and took Polaroid photos of it in various positions before propping the dead man's body in bed with him so the two could watch TV together. When Nilsen was ready to sleep he wrapped the body in carpet and placed it under the floorboards.

The family of Ockenden reported him missing within days and Nilsen panicked, he had been all over London with the man before he killed him in his apartment. Any second, he though police would be knocking at his door. However no-one ever did.

Nilsen now believed his fantasies and lust could take control, it seemed he was not destined to be caught. And for several more years he was right.

In May 1980, sixteen year old catering student Martyn Duffey was the next to die at Nilsen's hands. The two had been drinking together before retiring to Nilsen's apartment where the two of them collapsed into bed. Duffey fell asleep immediately and Nilsen stradled him and strangled him into unconsciousness. Nilsen then dragged the lifeless body into the kitchen where he filled the sink with water and immersed the young teens head until he was no longer alive.

I then lifted him into my arms and took him into the room. I laid him on the floor and took off his socks, jeans, shirt and underpants. I carried him into the bathroom. I got into the bath myself this time and he lay in the water on top of me. I washed his body. Both of us were dripping wet. I somehow managed to hoist this slipping burden on to my shoulders and took him to the room. I sat him on the kitchen chair adn dried us both. I put him on the bed but left the bedclothes off. He was still very warm. I talked to him and mentioned that his body was the youngest I had ever seen. I kissed him all over and held him close to me. I sat on his stomach and masturbated. I kept him temporarily in the cupboard. Two days later I found him bloated in the cupboard. He went straight under the floorboards.

On August 7, 1980 Nilsen met his next victim twenty seven year old Billy Sutherland in a pub near Piccadilly Circus. Sutherland was a scottish ex-con and was cover in tattoos. He considered himself heterosexual and had a girlfriend in Edinbrough but when he travelled around he lived day-to-day and would accept money for sex with men.

After the two men had spent an evening together drinking - going from pub to pub, Nilsen grew weary and was quite drunk when he decided to go home. He did not want any company but Sutherland would not leave.

Sutherland asked Nilsen if he could stay the night as he had no where else to sleep that evening. Nilsen found the request inconvenient, but let the Sutherland come home with him anyway.

Nilsen was not in the mood for any company and killed the man for being a nuisance.

Over the next six months Nilsen killed another seven men. All of them remain unidentified. Most of them were more than likely transients and those who would do anything for a warm bed for the night. Nilsen would kill those who had little chance of being reported missing. Drifters and Tourists usually were his victim of choice. Those with little or no family contact. This ensured that Nilsen's killings would continue undetected.

Nilsen's next victim fitted this description perfectly. Twenty-four year old Malcolm Barlow had no family - his parents were dead and he had no constant friends. Most of his life he had been in care due to medical handicaps. He had severe epilepsy and was on strict medication. Barlow was also always in trouble with authorities and would drift from place to place to avoid prosecution.

Barlow and Nilsen met quite by accident. Barlow was not well and leaning against a brick fence a few doors away from Nilsen's apartment building, when Nilsen walked past on his way to work. Nilsen thought the man looked quite ill indeed and stopped to offer him a cup of tea back at his flat.

Once inside Nilsen's flat the killer assessed the man's health and contrary to his usual habits, called the man an ambulance. Barlow was admitted to hospital for several days due to his asthma and was given medication to help manage his failing health.

A few days later on September 18, 1980 Barlow returned to Nilsen's flat to thank him for his caring good nature. When Nilsen returned from work he found the man sitting on the front steps of the apartment building. Nilsen was not in the mood for the unexpected company but let Barlow in to the flat anyway.

Nilsen poured himself a drink but did not off the visitor any knowing he would be on medication. The young man asked for a drink and continued to insist when Nilsen declined until Nilsen gave in and poured the man a scotch. Barlow ended up having a few glasses of scotch.

An hour later Nilsen could not arouse the comatose man, not wanting to call an ambulance again - they may begin to ask questions and uncover Nilsen's murderous habits and decided to strangle Barlow to get him out of the way. Nilsen then covered the man's lifeless body in garbage bags and shoved him under the kitchen sink as there was no longer room under the floorboards.

By December 1980 Nilsen knew he had to start to get rid of the bodies that he had accumulated throughout the tiny flat. He collected all the bodies together in the small kitchen and sat on the floor with a butchers knife. His knife kills from the army would now come in handy. He cut up the bodies into smaller, manageable pieces and filled garbage bags with the body parts.

The internal organs were put into two bags which he threw over the fence at the end of the garden. The rats, birds and flies devoured the lot in less than two days - half of the evidence was gone. Nilsen built a giant bonfire in the gardens of his Melrose Ave flat. He concealed most of the bags of body parts in rolled up discarded carpet. Nilsen was even clever enough to mask the tell-tale smell of the burning human bodies with a old tractor tyre he put on top of the makeshift funeral pyre.

In October 1981 Nilsen moved into an attic flat at 23 Cranley Gardens. He thought that by not having floorboards or a garden to conceal his victims that he may be less inclined to continue his murderous campaign. This was not to be.

John Howlett was murdered by Nilsen at the new flat in March 1982. Howlett was a transient and had always been in trouble with police. The man had met Nilsen several times in the local pubs and one evening the two men returned to Nilsen's new flat together.

Howlett was tired from the alcohol, but Nilsen felt like a few more, so while Howlett retired to Nilsen's bed for the evening Nilsen sat alone with his thoughts and a few more glasses of scotch. Nilsen soon decided to join the man in bed, however it was murder that he wanted. Nilsen took with him to the bed a strip of upholstery and quickly had the strap around the sleeping man's throat. As Howlett struggled, Nilsen pulled tighter. After an immense struggle Howlett hit is head on the headboard of the bed and went limp. Nilsen thought th emurder was over and went to fix himself another drink before starting his usual ritual with the body. But Bleep the dog's incessant barking from the bed made Nilsen rush back in. Howlett was alive and attempting to sit up on the bed, not knowingwhat had exactly transpired.

Reverting to his tried and true formula Nilsen dragged the semi-conscious man to the bathroom and drowned him in the sink.

Graham Allen was the next of Nilsen's victims. He was so insignificant to Nilsen that he cannot even remember how or when he had killed the man, except he had first made an omlette.

The final victim was a punk drug-addled drifter named Stephen Sinclair. Sinclair met Nilsen on January 26, 1983 while trying to scrounge enough money to live another day.

Nilsen felt pity for the young man so he bought him a hamburger and took him home. After a few drinks at the flat Sinclair slumped down into one of the chairs - he was unconscious.

I picked up one of his wrists and let go. His limp arm flopped back on to his lap. I opened one of his eyes and there was no reflex. He was deeplyconscious. I took the ligature and put it around his neck... I took each loose end of the ligature and pulled it tight.... He stopped breathing. His hands slowly reached for his neck as I held m grip. His legs stretched out in front of him. I held him there for a couple of minutes, He was limp and stayed that way. I released my hold and removed the string and tie. He had stopped breathing.

On February 2, 1983 Jim Allcock, one of the tenants of Nilsen's apartment block noticed that the toilets and drains were backing up. The plumber that came said he would return the next day as the main street sewer needed to be looked at as well.

By February 8, when no work had been done, Michael Cattan of Dyno-Rod Plumbing Co was asked to come and look at the problem which was worsening. Cattan found disgusting putrid lumps of a greyish-white substance was blocking the pipes coming from the house into the main sewer.

However darkness was falling and said to Jim Allcock he would return at first light the next morning. Cattan called his supervisor and told him about the substance he found in the drains and told him he suspected it to be human flesh.

Nilsen had seen Cattan come and inspect the drains and knew he had been found out. Nilsen had been disposing of his victims by flushing their cut up parts down the toilet. He knew he had little time to removed the offensive lumps blocking the sewer before the plumber returned with the police.

Nilsen cut-up the decapitated body of Sinclair and placed the pieces into garbage bags which he added to the other rotting corpses in his cupboard.. He sprayed air-freshener around teh room and hung mothballs in the robe to attempt to hide the smell.

During the night Nilsen cleared out the lumps of flesh from the main sewer, collected it in garbage bags and traipsed up and down the stairs to throw the bags over the back fence. What Nilsen didn't realised was that the other tenants spent the night listening to Nilsen trekking up and down the stairs.

When Cattan arrived the next morning he found that most of the flesh had been cleared away. Most of the tenants were quick to raise their suspicions with the plumber about Nilsen's midnight activities.

The police were called and small pieces that Cattan was still able to collect from the drain were taken for analysis and confirmed as human in origin.

The police then waited for Nilsen to return that afternoon from work to ask him about the body he had discarded in the drain.

Nilsen told the police they would find the rest of it in his cupboard in his flat. One officer walked up to the wardrobe and the smell emanating from it was enough evidence to arrest Nilsen and take him in for further questioning.

On further questioning Nilsen gladly spoke of the murders he had committed. He was almost happy to finally be caught and unable to kill again.

Nilsen was remanded in custody for seven days from February 12, 1983 before being transferred to Brixton prison in March to await his trial. The trial of Nilsen opened on 24 October, 1983 in No 1. court at the Old Bailey. The Judge presiding was Mr Justice Croom-Johnson. The court room was silent as chief administrator of the Court Mr Michael MacKenzie began to read out the charges of murder to Nilsen.

The entire court knew that Nilsen was guilty of each murder but what was in question was the man's frame of mind when he killed each victim.

The prosecutor Mr Allen Green stated that Nilsen had killed with full awareness and deliberation and was therefore guilty of each murder.

The defence council Ivan Lawrence claimed that Nilsen suffered from such abnormality of mind as to substantially hinder his responsibility for his acts and therefore only guilty of manslaughter.

The trial followed these preliminary ideas for days. Going back and forth arguing whether Nilsen was in possession of his full faculties when he murdered the men.

Yet the evidence heard may never had happened. Nilsen had wanted to plead guilty to the murders but was counselled against it by the defence.

So when after several days Nilsen changed his defence counsel and changed his plea at the same time. However the trial was already in full-swing and continued to its conclusion. On November 3, 1983 the members of the jury retired to consider their verdict.

The following day they returned their findings. Nilsen was found guilty of six murders and two attempted murders there was insufficient evidence to pursue the other ten murders. The judge sentenced Nilsen to life imprisonment with the recommendation that is should mean no less than 25 years.

He began his prison sentence at Wormwood Scrubs before being moved to several other prisons for his safety.

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Original Written: August 5, 2001