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crisis center for suggested phone numbers for confidential support please see the show notes for this episode on
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your app or on our website with the Dennis Nilsen committed to stand trial for the murders of six men
00:01:43
and to the attempted murder of two others the public and press questioned how he could have gotten away with the
00:01:49
crimes for so long the reality was that most of Nielsen's victims were social outcasts without solid family structures
00:01:58
or fixed addresses many associated with the drug users and sex workers who were unlikely to approach the police making
00:02:07
it easy for their disappearances to go unnoticed in fact of the 15 men Nielsen claimed to have murdered only three
00:02:17
Billy Sutherland Kenneth Ockendon and Stephen Holmes were ever confirmed to have been reported missing The Guardian
00:02:27
newspaper reported that Nelson insulated himself from detection by choosing victims who were quote young homeless
00:02:36
down-and-out homosexuals and surmised the reason why nobody knew that Nielsen was killing was that nobody accepted
00:02:47
Nielsen knew that any killings were going on the article also highlighted how the banality of Nelson's public
00:02:56
persona cloaked his true character quote nobody knew or even suspected because Nielsen not only possessed all the
00:03:05
trappings of a thoroughly normal suburban life he was positively dreary the least I catch a man in the crowd it
00:03:15
was not only his neighbors that saw him without noticing him most of those who worked with him or drank with him were
00:03:22
bored by him as for the attempted murders the survivors were likely hesitant to follow through with police
00:03:30
reports due to fear they wouldn't be taken seriously on account of being gay the attacks were also so bizarre and
00:03:39
inexplicable that the survivors themselves could barely comprehend what had happened The Guardian reported that
00:03:47
Nielson himself expressed the disbelief at how long his crimes went undetected stating I was in a quasi godlike role I
00:03:57
thought I could do anything I wanted while this was going on there were people upstairs and people next door and
00:04:05
nobody knew as Nielsen's trial date approached the prosecution continued investigating and
00:04:14
were able to identify several more victims when examining the skull of one unidentified victim forensic
00:04:23
investigators discovered there was a metal plate in the jaw using dental records they determined that the skull
00:04:31
belonged to 27 year-old Graham Allen the Scottish heroin addict who Nielsen had met in September 1982 after Graham had
00:04:40
an argument with his girlfriend Leslie Nielsen had taken Graham to his Ma's well hill flat cooked him an omelet and
00:04:49
two then strangled him to death when he passed out midway through eating the meal Nielsen had previously told police
00:04:57
about this murder but couldn't recall the victim's name referring to the incident simply as the omelet death by
00:05:07
the time Graham was identified it was too late to add a seventh murder charge to Nielsen's indictment but the
00:05:14
prosecution intended to use the details of Graham's murder as evidence at trial japanese chef tasha Mitsui ozawa who
00:05:25
escaped to Nielsen's attempt to strangle him at the muzzle he'll flatten on New Year's Eve in 1982 was identified when
00:05:32
police found the initial report he'd made against Nielson following the attack Tasha minsu hadn't followed through with
00:05:41
a formal complaint as he felt it was too much work when the police read the statement to
00:05:47
Nielson he responded I find that frightening no charges were laid against him for
00:05:58
this crime but the statement would be used as evidence against him during trial when Nilson was first arrested he
00:06:08
described an attack he'd committed against the young man he had met at the black cap pub in Camden in May 1982 he
00:06:16
couldn't remember the man's name but recalled that he had been in the process of escaping an abusive
00:06:22
relationship and Neilson had lent him a friend - a year before inviting him to stay at his Ma's well he'll flower after
00:06:31
the young man had gone to bed Nielson began strangling him in his sleep then blamed to the injuries on a broken
00:06:38
sleeping bag zipper the men eventually lost the consciousness at which point Neilson attempted to drown him in his
00:06:46
bathtub before deciding to let him live police used this statement to track the survivor down identifying him as Karl
00:06:57
stata who had been 21 at the time of the attack Karl shared his recollection of the events with police which matched
00:07:05
Nielsen's statement and confirmed to Nielson was telling the truth it was too late to add another attempted
00:07:14
murder charge to Nielsen's indictment but the prosecution decided to call Carl as a witness at trial to establish
00:07:21
evidence regarding Nielsen's modus operandi on Monday October 24 1983 Dennis Nelson's trial commenced in the
00:07:32
Old Bailey the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales with the Justice David
00:07:38
crumb Johnson presiding Neilson heeding the advice of his solicitor cleaned to diminish two responsibilities by reason
00:07:48
of mental disorder in the hope of reducing his charges to manslaughter for the murders of Stephen Sinclair and John
00:07:57
Hallett Billy Sutherland Martin Duffy Kenneth Ockendon and Malcolm Barlow as well as the attempted murders of Paul
00:08:05
nobs and Douglas Stewart Neilson entered the same plea not guilty [Music] [Music]
00:08:39
under Section two of the homicide Act in 1957 a person suffering from diminished
00:08:46
responsibility was protected from being convicted of murder if they were found to be suffering from an abnormality of
00:08:54
the mind that substantially impaired their mental responsibilities during the act of killing therefore the jury of
00:09:03
eight men and four women were asked not to determine whether Nielson was a killer as this was undeniable but
00:09:10
whether he was of sound mind when he committed his crimes to complicate matters the defense of diminished
00:09:19
responsibility didn't apply to attempted murder Nielsen's Defense Council Ivan Lawrence
00:09:26
who was working alongside Solicitor Ralph hyeme's requested that the two charges of
00:09:32
attempted murder be dropped so as to not confused the jury but his request was denied and the charges remained although
00:09:43
several of Nielsen's victims were gay many weren't entered the prosecution had conceded not to position any of the
00:09:51
murders as quote homosexual in nature or motivation prosecutor Alan green opened the case
00:10:01
against Nelson by reassuring the jury they wouldn't be exposed to any photographs of the human remains found
00:10:08
in the defendants home he then took the court through the sequence of events that led to Nielsen's arrest starting
00:10:17
with the block two drains at twenty-three cranly Gardens before summarizing each of the 15 murders
00:10:23
Nielson confessed to during police questioning Green highlighted that during their
00:10:30
confessions Nielson described murdering one of his victims as quote as easy as taking candy from a baby
00:10:38
and that he had strangled her so many victims that he had used all of his 15 neckties the prosecution agreed that
00:10:48
Dennis Nilsen was certainly abnormal but argued he had deliberately killed with full awareness and was therefore guilty
00:10:56
of murder three of the men who Nielsen had attacked were called to testify the first was Douglas Stewart The
00:11:07
Scotsman who had met Nelson at the Golden Lion pub on November 10 1980 and reluctantly agreed to join him for a
00:11:14
drink at his Melrose Avenue flat to avoid being rude Douglas recounted that he drank two
00:11:22
pints of beer and two then declined Nielsen's offer of a vodka after falling asleep in an armchair he awoke to
00:11:30
Nielson attempting to strangle him with a necktie and managed to fight him off scratching him under the eye in the
00:11:37
process during the struggle Nielson had a loudly yelled take my money take my money which the prosecution submitted
00:11:47
was an attempt to make himself appear the victim in case one of his neighbors heard the attack Greene argued that such
00:11:56
awareness and foresight indicated Nelson's calm state of mind at the time once the fight concluded Douglas tried
00:12:06
to placate Nielson by staying for another drink before eventually fleeing to inform the police when police
00:12:14
officers arrived at the flat Nielson claimed that he and Douglas were in a relationship and that they had simply
00:12:21
had an argument the police ultimately dismissed Douglass's complaint as they hadn't
00:12:28
noticed the scratch under Nielsen's eye prior to the trial Nielson said he didn't recall this attack but as Douglas
00:12:38
testified Nielson hastily passed two notes to his defense team to highlight inconsistencies in the story including
00:12:46
that he only kept a ram in his house and would never have offered Douglas a vodka
00:12:52
Nilsson also refuted Douglass's testimony that he had introduced himself as Dennis claiming that he only ever
00:12:59
went by the name des during cross-examination by the defense Lawrence asked why Douglas hadn't told
00:13:08
police to look for the scratch until Nelson's are Douglas replied that he hadn't thought
00:13:14
to mention it because he wasn't used to people trying to kill him when asked why
00:13:20
he stayed for another drink instead of running for his life Douglas didn't have an answer Douglas had previously sold
00:13:30
his story to tabloid newspaper the Sunday Mirror and to Lawrence suggested that he had fabricated certain details
00:13:38
to appease the newspapers requests for detail others in the courthouse perceived to Douglas as being cocky and
00:13:46
self-possessed and seemed to agree that his testimony might not be 100% reliable
00:13:58
the next witness to take the stand was Paul nobs the university student who Nielson tried to strangle in his sleep
00:14:06
on November 23 1981 marking the first of his attacks in the muscle Hill flat on the stand
00:14:15
Paul was visibly nervous and so softly spoken that both the prosecution and the judge had to ask him to speak up as he
00:14:24
detailed the assault that had left him with a visible mark across his neck for three months under cross-examination the
00:14:34
defense didn't challenge any of Paul's statements but instead asked the series of questions designed to show the jury
00:14:41
that there was no obvious motive for Nelson's attack which could indicate he was mentally unstable Lawrence put
00:14:50
forward that when the two men met at the Golden Lion Park Nielson offered Paul a
00:14:55
genuine friendship and agreed to accompany him to buy some books Nielson then cooked Paul dinner and offered him
00:15:03
a place to stay for the night in the morning when Paul was clearly injured and unwell Nielson gave no
00:15:11
indication that he was responsible instead showing genuine concern and suggesting that Paul see a doctor Paul
00:15:21
confirmed to all of these points to be true and also agreed that Nielson hadn't tried to coerce him into sacks or
00:15:28
any acts of sadism or violence in an attempt to disprove the prosecution's position that Nilson purposefully
00:15:38
targeted vagrants and drifters who wouldn't be reported as missing the defense pointed to the fact that Nelson
00:15:44
had allowed Paul to phone his mother on the evening in question the next eye witness to take the stand was survivor
00:15:54
Karl Stoddard who was visibly apprehensive as he relayed he's terrifying ordeal at Nelson's Muswell
00:16:01
Hill flat author Brian masters later wrote if Paul nobs was nervous Carlotta was positively terrified Karl testified
00:16:16
that when he first met Nelson at the black cat pub in Camden Nelson had asked whether Karl had any family later at his
00:16:25
flat Nilsson warned Karl that the sleeping bag he was using had a loose zipper the prosecution put forward that
00:16:33
both of these factors indicated that the attempted murder was premeditated they argued that Nelson wanted to check
00:16:41
whether his victim would be missed by anyone who might attempt to find him while the mention of the broken zipper
00:16:48
implied to Nelson was planning to strangle Karl and gave this warning in case the attack was botched
00:16:56
Nelson claimed to not to recall this attack which the defense used to infer that he must have had a complete mental
00:17:03
block or been dissociating at the time Nelson had asked ordered karl to the nearest tube station the day after the
00:17:12
assault which the defense stated further proved his mental instability karl also
00:17:20
described to nielsen as completely calm before and after the incident as though he was unaware that he had caused any
00:17:27
harm Detective Chief Inspector Peter J was also called to testify as well as recounting the events that led to
00:17:41
Nelson's arrest he read a layout from a number of statements Nelson had written while in custody including one from
00:17:48
February 15 1983 that Nelson had titled unscrambling behavior in the statement Nelson attempted to explain why he
00:18:00
killed surmising that he was a creative psychopath who had the power to temporarily lapse into a destructive
00:18:09
psychopath when drinking alcohol rapidly Nielson explained to that at his core he
00:18:17
felt completely socially isolated and was desperately searching for his sexual identity he also admitted that after
00:18:25
murdering his first victim he had been incapable of having sexual intercourse with a partner for some time Nielson
00:18:35
speculated as to the motivation behind his crimes saying he wished he could blame his actions on jealousy hate
00:18:42
revenge sex or robbery but that there was no clinical reason why he attacked he wrote god only knows what thoughts go
00:18:54
through my mind when its captive within a destructive binge it may be the perverted overkill of my need to help
00:19:02
people victims who I decide to release quickly from the slings and arrows of their outrageous fortune pain and
00:19:10
suffering there is no disputing the fact that I am a violent killer under certain
00:19:17
circumstances the victim is the dirty plotter after the face and to the washing up is
00:19:24
a clinically ordinary task Nielsen also questioned whether his desire to kill was a subconscious
00:19:35
primitive instinct or whether he simply enjoyed the thrill of getting away with murder
00:19:42
he wrote it amazes me I have no tears for the victims I have no tears for myself or for those
00:19:51
bereaved by my actions am i a wicked person constantly under pressure who just cannot cope with it who escapes
00:20:00
to reap revenge against society through the haze of a bottle of spirits maybe it's because I was just born an evil man
00:20:10
living with so much violence and death of not being haunted by the souls and ghosts of the Dead leading me to believe
00:20:18
that no such fictional phenomena has does or ever will exist DC IJ confirmed that Nilson was unusually cooperative
00:20:32
with the police investigation as well as eerily calm and unfazed when describing
00:20:38
the horrific acts he had committed Detective Chief Superintendent Jeffrey chambers also testified reading the long
00:20:48
transcripts of Nielsen's police interviews verbatim which took four hours to do DCs chambers said that
00:20:57
Nilson showed no remorse nor any indication of distress or disgust when describing how he dissected rotting
00:21:05
bodies or boiled human heads and flesh the large cooking pot nielsen had used to boil his victims as well as the
00:21:15
cutting board he had used for one of the dismemberments were produced as evidence
00:21:20
much to the horror of the jury who appeared nervous and physically ill upon hearing the accounts
00:21:28
author Brian masters who was present at the trial recalled at the point when Nielsen had described to unpacking
00:21:39
bundles of human remains the stench and the colonies of maggots even the judge looked repelled by what he heard for the
00:21:48
first time in the trial there was much nervous coughing in court there could hardly have been a more eloquent
00:21:56
demonstration of the Gulf which divided ordinary men and women from the impassive prisoner in the dark at this
00:22:05
point it was difficult to believe he was human at all Nielsen's defense team called upon two psychiatrists to support
00:22:19
their contention that Nilson was suffering from abnormality of the mind at the times of his crimes forensic
00:22:27
psychiatrist dr. James McKeith testified that Nelson was paranoid unsure of his own identity experienced feelings of
00:22:36
grandiosity and was desperate for the attention of others citing Nelson's bizarre sexual development and extreme
00:22:45
fantasies doctormick Heath believed he had an obsession with nudity and unconsciousness which was spurred by his
00:22:53
drinking binges and repressed sexuality he was also hindered by depersonalization a state in which an
00:23:02
individual experiences a feeling of observing themselves from outside their body or senses that their surroundings
00:23:10
are real according to dr. make--the this was evident in Nelson's ability to appear normal and calm at work
00:23:19
shortly after having murdered and dismembered victims at home as Nilsson had shown a complete lack of remorse yet
00:23:27
considered himself sane dr. make--the diagnosed him as having a severe personality disorder which
00:23:35
incorporated paranoid schizoid hysterical and sociopathic tendencies under cross-examination the prosecution
00:23:46
argued that Nelson wasn't mentally ill but intelligent cunning quick-witted and a resourceful they pointed out that his
00:23:56
occasional changes of heart when attacking certain victims indicated he was in control and capable of making
00:24:03
conscious choices when the prosecution asked the doctor Mackay's whether he believed that Nelson was of diminished
00:24:12
responsibility he responded I cannot answer that as an expert witness he explained that was up to the court to
00:24:24
assess the psychiatric evidence against the legal meaning of diminished responsibility and determine Nielsen's
00:24:31
abnormality of mind the second forensic psychiatrist to give evidence for the defense was dr. Patrick
00:24:40
Galway who concluded that Neilson suffered from arrested personality development which substantially impaired
00:24:47
his responsibility for his actions he described in Nielsen's condition as false self syndrome which was
00:24:56
characterized by the combination of paranoid and schizoid elements he exhibited while maintaining a seemingly
00:25:02
normal personality dr. Galway believed that Nilson masked his true personality causing periodic
00:25:11
breakdowns whenever the schizoid feature was prominent which led to his imagination taking over by projecting
00:25:20
his destruction onto victims that he viewed as objects instead of directing it inwards Neilson was able to prevent
00:25:28
his mind from entering psychosis during cross-examination the prosecution put it
00:25:37
the dr. Galway that Nelson knew intellectually exactly what he was doing when he committed his crimes
00:25:45
dr. Galway agreed but clarified that a person could not know what he was doing unless he also had emotional awareness
00:25:53
of it he reasoned quote I cannot see how Nelson can be guilty of malice aforethought if he is entirely without
00:26:04
feeling since billing is an integral part of a person's intent and motivation dr. Galway concluded that without the
00:26:15
emotional factor Nielsen would have behaved like a machine understanding the nature of his actions but not the
00:26:22
meaning of them the prosecution called their own expert witness to the stand dr. Paul Bowden at Brixton prison
00:26:32
psychiatrist who had interviewed in Nelson on 16 separate occasions over the past eight months
00:26:39
dr. Burton rejected the defense psychiatrists diagnosis declaring that he found no evidence to suggest that
00:26:47
Nelson had a severe personality disorder dissociated from his crimes or suffered
00:26:53
from arrest the development of the mind either intellectually or emotionally he deduced that there was no inherent cause
00:27:02
for Nelson's behavior and that he simply enjoyed the feeling of having power over
00:27:07
his victims dr. Baron also suggested that Nelson killed to transfer the feelings of
00:27:15
criminality he had towards being Jay to being a murderer instead dr. Baron rejected the suggestion that nelson was
00:27:25
remorseless and unemotional recounting that during one of their sessions together Nielson had broken down when
00:27:33
pressed about the details of John helots murder dr. Burton recalled quote tears filled his eyes and he was about to
00:27:44
start crying and he spoke about never being able to show his feelings then he got up and walked out the trial lasted
00:27:57
for nine days with the legal teams delivering their closing remarks on Wednesday November 2 1983 prosecutor
00:28:06
green concluded Dennis Nilsen was free to choose and he did choose who to leave alone and who to kill and who to
00:28:17
reprieve and a greater power hath no man than this he had been cunning in disposing of the possessions of his
00:28:26
victims and a resourceful in dealing with the police who were called by a victim who escaped he is a plausible
00:28:34
fellow a person who is able to Bluff his way out of many a situation the mind of
00:28:41
a man who can kill 15 people and try to kill six or seven others that mind in doing those things must be abnormal but
00:28:51
that did not mean that he was suffering from a diagnosable medical disorder he had killed for pleasure defense counsel
00:29:03
Ivan Lawrence urged the jury to use their common sense to determine that anyone capable of committing such brutal
00:29:11
and inhumane crimes had to be out of their mind after cataloguing Nielsen's crimes
00:29:19
mr. Lawrence concluded is there nothing substantially wrong with the mind of a man like that
00:29:29
injustice Croom Johnson reminded the jury that for Nilson to satisfy the legal definition of abnormality of the
00:29:37
mind quote there must be no excuses for Nilson if he has moral defects a nasty nature is not the same as an Arrested
00:29:48
Development of the mind on Tuesday November 3 the jury retired to deliberate but were unable to reach a
00:29:58
unanimous decision this continued the following day so just this Croom Johnson decided he would
00:30:06
accept the majority decision on the afternoon of November 4 the jury returned their verdicts for the murders
00:30:16
of Kenneth Ockendon Martin Duffy Billie Sutherland Malcolm Barlow John Hallett and Stephen Sinclair and
00:30:25
for the two attempted murders of Douglas Stewart and Paul nobs they found two Nelson guilty on all
00:30:32
counts Justice Croom Johnson handed down his sentence immediately stating quote Dennis Andrew Nilson on the verdicts of
00:30:45
the jury on the murder counts there is only one sentence which it is possible for me to pass he's sentenced Nelson to
00:30:54
life in prison with a minimum of 25 years clarifying that he would have passed the same sentence even if Nelson
00:31:03
had been found guilty of manslaughter due to diminished responsibility as his condition did not appear to be treatable
00:31:10
and he therefore was unlikely to benefit from time in a psychiatric facility Nelson was escorted out of the dock by
00:31:20
four prison guards and into the cells below the courthouse he commenced his life sentence that the
00:31:31
Wormwood Scrubs prison located in the London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham where he was assigned to his own six by
00:31:39
eight foot cell containing a desk and iron framed to bed a sink and a bucket toilet Neilson kept a scrapbook of
00:31:49
newspaper articles featuring his story and denoted down any inaccuracies he came across he complained about the
00:31:57
ongoing media attention and to their portrayal of him but those who spent time with Nelson believed he would have
00:32:04
struggled without the infamy Nelson mostly kept to himself which earned him a reputation amongst the
00:32:13
other inmates as pretentious this combined with the fact that they viewed his crimes as sexually motivated meant
00:32:21
that Nelson's fellow prisoners gave him a difficult time on December 20 1983 Nielson was in the exercise yard when
00:32:32
someone whispered you'd better watch your back mate the following day in the yard Nielson suddenly felt a blow to his
00:32:41
cheek and heard a metal object clutter to the ground upon looking down and seeing blood dripping onto his shirt he
00:32:51
realized his face had been slashed with a razor the injury required 89 stitches and
00:32:58
resulted in a deep scar that ran across the left-hand side of his face from his mouth to his ear the prisoner
00:33:08
responsible for the attack was small-time gangster Albert Moffatt who was charged for the assault and faced a
00:33:15
trial on June 18 1984 Moffatt openly admitted to the crime claiming he had acted in response to
00:33:24
Nielson making a sexual advance on him the jury decided that there was not enough evidence for a conviction and to
00:33:32
the charge was dropped [Music] later that year Nielson was transferred to Wakefield prison a facility roughly
00:33:42
295 kilometres northwest of London that specialised in housing sex offenders he soon struck up a romantic relationship
00:33:51
with a fellow inmate 28 year-old Jimmy Butler who was serving nine years for an armed robbery
00:33:59
Jimmy bore a resemblance to the Rolling Stones co-founder and guitarist Keith Richards and to Nielson was attracted to
00:34:07
his left-wing politics and energy Jimmy encouraged the Nielson to reengage his chef skills and the to set up a small
00:34:16
curry business during recreation time in the prison's common room kitchen nielsen
00:34:24
spent the majority of his meager prison earnings on cannabis which angered Jimmy
00:34:29
as did the fact that Nilson constantly questioned Jimmy about his unhappy childhood
00:34:35
the two started fighting with one argument turning physically violent and a Jimmy was eventually transferred to
00:34:43
another prison in 1985 Nielson wrote a letter to his mother Betty saying he wanted to permanently cease all contact
00:34:54
with her it is not known whether he had any contact with any other family members thereafter that same year author
00:35:05
Brian masters released his book about Nelson titled killing for company which featured excerpts from his
00:35:12
correspondence with the murderer and first-hand descriptions of the crimes the content raised concerns with
00:35:20
politicians from the Conservative Party who attempted to have masters and the books publisher Random House prosecuted
00:35:28
under the obscene publications Act the Attorney General denied their request and killing for company went on
00:35:36
to win awards for nonfiction crime writing the book was praised by one of Britain's preeminent psychological
00:35:45
fiction writers Dame Beryl Bainbridge who said killing for company must stand as one of the most remarkable and
00:35:54
accurate accounts ever written of the singular relationship between a mass murderer and a society
00:36:02
Brian masters in the writing has achieved the impossible though dealing with sensational and horrific matters he
00:36:12
has managed God knows how to treat his material with such objectivity and to restraint that what we have is not a
00:36:20
penny dreadful from the hammer house of horror but a bloody masterpiece On February 4 1986 survivor Carl Stoddart
00:36:32
wrote to Nielsen in prison asking why he had chosen to spare his life they exchanged a number of letters over the
00:36:41
following months with Carl later telling journalists to Russ coffee that the closest to an explanation
00:36:48
Nielsen offered was that a thin strand of humanity passed between them on the night of the attack however Carl
00:36:57
believes the real reason his life was spared was that Nielsen simply didn't have room
00:37:03
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leading child protection organization act for kids is urging Australians to stand together to protect the vulnerable
00:41:41
children and support families who are struggling the organization's CEO dr. Neil Carrington is worried about the
00:41:50
impact that kovat 19 will have on child abuse and neglect cases as some families
00:41:56
struggle to cope with the resulting pressures that's why I act for kids have launched their I love Monday's campaign
00:42:03
a fundraiser to help vulnerable children as demand increases I love Mondays was named for
00:42:11
five-year-old abuse survivor Maddie who receives psychological support and speech therapy from act for kids
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every Monday after two months of intensive support the normally shy and anxious Maddie greeted her therapist
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with a big smile and said that she loved Monday's donations to the campaign will
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fund the central telehealth therapy for kids and to their families provide integrated therapy services and help
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prevent child abuse and neglect by supporting act for kids services to help act for kids reach children in urgent
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need of assistance visit act for kids.com dot au that's AC T fo r kids.com dot au to learn about how you can
00:43:00
support vulnerable kids in the community during the mid-1980s the AIDS epidemic was a public focus in Britain and
00:43:21
Nilsson wanted the campaign for gay rights he wrote to the prison authorities requesting that inmates be
00:43:28
permitted to buy condoms but they rejected his request on the basis that gay acts were considered contrary to
00:43:35
good order and discipline Nielsen reported this to LGBTQ magazine gay times which published the story as the
00:43:45
Senators felt that the issue of AIDS imprisoned deserved attention even if the information was coming from a serial
00:43:52
killer Nielson also started receiving letters from members of the gay community who were struck by the idea
00:44:00
that his murders may have resulted from the psychological impact of his sexual isolation in 1990 Nielson was
00:44:09
transferred to full sutton prison in Yorkshire much to the anger of many of its inmates one night two hooded men
00:44:17
burst into Nelson's cell carrying a bowl of boiling water filled with sugar which
00:44:23
increases the temperature of boiling water to defend himself Nielson threw a battery at the man causing them to drop
00:44:31
the bowl before they could use its contents to launch an assault Nielsen was subsequently transferred to the
00:44:38
segregation unit for his own protection where he remained for several months before being moved to the vulnerable
00:44:45
prisoner unit award that mainly housed sex offenders the following year in 1991 Nielson was transferred to Albany prison
00:44:56
on the Isle of Wight a facility on the south coast of England specialising almost exclusively in vulnerable
00:45:03
prisoners he was allocated to work hard labor in the prisons mill and started receiving
00:45:10
visits from Lord Longford a devout Roman Catholic and a Labour Party politician famed for championing
00:45:17
social outcasts and forming friendships with unpopular prisoners he had famously
00:45:24
visited Moore's murderer Myra Hindley whose crimes were covered in episode 49 of case file in the early 1960s
00:45:33
Hindley and her partner Ian Brady murdered five children and was sentenced to life in prison
00:45:40
Lord Longford had campaigned for Hindley's parole on the grounds that she had found a religious faith he visited
00:45:49
Milsons several times before nielsen determined that their beliefs were incompatible and to amicably request
00:45:56
that a stop to the visits at the beginning of 1993 Nielson was transferred yet again this time to the
00:46:09
brand-new white Moore prison near Peterborough 150 kilometers north of London where he was housed in the
00:46:17
special secure unit on January 26 a video interview that he had participated in during his time in Albany prison was
00:46:27
aired on national television as part of a program titled murder in mind the one-hour show was the result of a
00:46:36
two-year investigation into serial killings in the United Kingdom and United States and described how
00:46:43
psychologists sent computerized data banks could help police trap killers the British Home Office had appealed to the
00:46:51
High Court to have the broadcaster banned on the grounds that the interview would cause pain to Nielsen's victims
00:46:58
and to their families the High Court rejected the request declaring that the program was in the public interest and
00:47:07
that the relatives of the victims could find comfort in knowing the loss of their loved ones was being used to
00:47:14
prevent such tragedy happening to others the interview with Nelson that was broadcast had been condensed into a six
00:47:23
minute segment during which nielsen said that he had to get blind too drunk in order to dissect his victims bodies as
00:47:31
well as detailing the manner in which he dismembered his victims Neilson discussed these fantasies in which he
00:47:38
watched himself pretending to be dead in the mirror explaining that he applied makeup in an attempt to convince himself
00:47:45
he was someone else he also stated that his victims looked better once they were
00:47:51
dead and that after they were washed and dressed in clean underwear he viewed their bodies as himself in his mirror
00:47:58
fantasies Neilson explained that carrying the dead body was an expression of his power and that the more lifeless
00:48:07
and passive the victim was the more powerful he felt concluded by saying that although the
00:48:14
bodies of his victims were gone he still felt a quote spiritual communion with these people after the murder in mind
00:48:25
program aired Nielson stated that he thought the interview quote stinks because it showed him in an unfavorable
00:48:33
light and to that its producers had missed a unique opportunity later in 1993 Nielsen was required to take part
00:48:43
in the UK's new sex offender treatment program one of the first of its kind in the world
00:48:50
Nielsen claimed that he learned nothing new from the program that he didn't already know himself since Nielsen's
00:49:02
conviction the British government had introduced the new policy in response to public fears about increased crime rates
00:49:10
in which home secretaries could use their discretion to impose whole life tariffs on prisoners who satisfied the
00:49:17
criteria for the worst type of murders in 1994 the then Home Secretary Michael Howard announced that a whole life
00:49:27
tariff would be applied to Nilsson meaning he would never become eligible for parole by the mid-1990s Nilsson
00:49:38
completed the first draft of his autobiography which he titled history of a drowning boy hoping to eventually have
00:49:46
it published he sent it off site to his solicitors for safekeeping later he wrote to water and gay literary icon
00:49:56
Peter Paul Hartnett better known as PP asking for his help to edit the manuscript PP had first contacted nelson
00:50:06
in 1993 asking for his insights into the subject of isolation in gay urban culture and - the two had corresponded
00:50:15
ever since however prison authorities Bend Nelson and peepee from collaborating on the
00:50:22
manuscript and wouldn't permit the manuscript to be returned to the prison prison guards increased their scrutiny
00:50:32
of Nelson and searched his self finding a copy of a gay pornography magazine in the provocative art book by French
00:50:40
artists Pierre and Jill the two publications were confiscated Nielson was infuriated and determined to fight
00:50:50
for his rights to view pornography under the Human Rights Act he attempted to lodge the complaint in court but the
00:50:57
judge refused to allow his case to be heard although Nilsson was banned from accessing his manuscript PP Hartnett
00:51:07
being outside the prison systems control was still free to edit it and arrange to
00:51:13
have it published however Nilsson was unhappy with the draft in its current form and eventually
00:51:19
lost confidence in Pepe's ability to complete the project instead Nilsson took the risk of asking
00:51:27
his lawyer Nick Wells to send him the manuscript on March 7 2001 Wells obliged describing the document as legally
00:51:38
privileged the governor at white Moor prison determined to the manuscript did not fit
00:51:45
this criteria and to returned it to Wells explaining it would need to be examined by prison authorities to ensure
00:51:52
it complied with their rules on November 27 2001 Nielson was transferred back to
00:52:00
full Sutton prison where the dispute about his manuscript continued prison officials read it and determined it was
00:52:10
not to be passed back to Nelson on the grounds that it was intended for publication and described to Nielsen's
00:52:17
criminal offenses without forming serious comments about the crimes the processes of justice or the penal system
00:52:26
in a letter dated October 23 2002 the governor of the prison detailed his reasons for the decision stating that
00:52:35
the manuscript quote is a platform for mr. Nelson to seek to justify his conduct and denigrate people he dislikes
00:52:45
the manuscript contains several lurid and pornographic passages it contains highly personal details of a number of
00:52:53
mr. Nelson's offenses it seeks to portray mr. Nelson as a morally and intellectually superior being who
00:53:02
justifiably holds others in contempt its publication would be likely to cause great distress to mr. Nelson's surviving
00:53:11
victims and to the families of all his victims and would be likely to cause a justifiable sense of outrage among the
00:53:19
general public nielsen mounted a legal challenge against the decision but the High Court
00:53:27
ruled that the determination of the prison service be upheld not content with this outcome
00:53:34
Nielsen filed an appeal in 2004 to the Supreme Court but the judges ruled that his case be
00:53:41
dismissed he then submitted a request to appeal to the House of Lords this too was denied
00:53:48
so he took his case to the European Court of Human Rights the court eventually ruled in favor of the Prison
00:53:57
Service effectively ending Nielsen's Avenue of Appeal and ensuring he would never get his manuscript back when news
00:54:06
of Nielsen's writings first began leaking in the press one of his surviving victims Carl Stata filed a
00:54:14
petition against its publication he later told a journalist Russ Coffey quote this book is just
00:54:23
about his desire for attention and publicity that's all it is Nielsen wants Takeda for his monster ego
00:54:31
image he's just a monster and we shouldn't pay attention to him we should be thinking about the victims and the
00:54:40
ripple effect on other victims in 2006 a team of police were reviewing the disappearance of 14 year old Stephen
00:54:55
Dean Holmes who had gone missing after walking home from a pop concert on December 30 1978 they showed Nilsson a
00:55:04
photo of Stephen who identified the teenager as his first two victim the two had met at the Cricklewood Arms Hotel
00:55:12
where Stephen was refused service on account of his age prompting Nielson to invite him back to his Melrose Avenue
00:55:20
flat for a drink once there they drank heavily and after Stephen fell asleep Nelson strangled him using an AK tire
00:55:30
then hid his body underneath the floorboards Nelson had told police about this murder upon his arrest in 1983 but
00:55:41
didn't know the name of his victim and was therefore never charged for the crime the police contacted Stephens
00:55:49
sister to inform her that her brother had now been identified as one of Nelson's victims sadly their mother had
00:55:58
passed away just four years earlier in 2002 and had campaigned for information about her son's whereabouts until the
00:56:05
very end the Holmes family found it too painful to talk about Stephens murder publicly but issued a statement that
00:56:14
read we are thankful to the police and glad it is all over now we hope that people will respect our privacy at this
00:56:24
sad time it was thought that Nelson may face a fresh trial for Stephens murder but this never eventuated also in 2006
00:56:38
Nelson's whole life tariff was reviewed after home secretaries were stripped of their right to impose such sentences
00:56:46
instead it was determined that the decision must be made by an independent and impartial tribunal established to by
00:56:55
law the trial judge reviewed in Nelson's case and affirmed the existing whole life tariff concluding that he would
00:57:05
never be eligible for parole nielsen stated that he wouldn't appeal for release as he owed it to his victims
00:57:14
to serve the allocated time in october 2013 some text was posted to an online blog which was said to be an excerpt
00:57:26
from Nielsen's history of a drowning boy manuscript although the author of the blog is
00:57:33
unknown experts have confirmed the excerpts appears to have been written by Nielson
00:57:39
in response to the lake Seton Sutherland whose brother Billy Sutherland was one of Nelson's confirmed victims told the
00:57:48
Daily Mail newspaper this man is a monster and he should not be allowed a voice this is attempting to glorify what
00:57:58
he did and it was the right decision to stop his autobiography ever being published take the blog down for the
00:58:06
sake of the families who were still having to deal with what he did it wasn't just our loved ones he killed
00:58:13
something died inside my parents and my brothers and sisters he ruined our family we've never had anywhere to go to
00:58:22
grieve for Billy because of what Nelson did to him and to the horror of how he died and what happened to him afterwards
00:58:30
never leaves us Shane Levine whose father was Nielsen's 14th victim Graham Allen had a different view and was
00:58:41
passionately in favor of the manuscripts publication on his own blog Shane explained that he would like to read
00:58:50
Nielsen's uncensored and honest words rather than the inaccurate words and beliefs that was splashed around in the
00:58:57
media Shane wrote there's a whole lot of hypocrisy and - nonsense logic around this question it's like the powers that
00:59:08
be don't want to know his real feelings they want to take away all the words which they don't want to hear and to
00:59:16
leave only those which give the impression that the criminal justice system and rehabilitation works
00:59:24
shouldn't the public psychiatrists forensic psychologists and criminal profilers be grateful for such a
00:59:31
first-hand account and done ashamed - glorifying of such a crime to me such a book would be extremely useful I think
00:59:41
the book has every right to be published and I think it's in the public interest
00:59:46
to do so in full Sutton prison Neilson continued writing autobiographical reflections eventually amassing more
00:59:58
than 4,500 pages in 2013 portions of history of a drowning boy were published in a book
01:00:07
written by journalist Russ coffee titled Dennis Nilsen conversations with Britain's most evil serial killer coffee
01:00:17
had first contacted Nelson in prison in 1998 and the two corresponded regularly throughout the 2000s with Nilsson
01:00:26
providing copious essays letters and additional chapters for his manuscript a draft that existed outside the prison
01:00:35
coffee is reported to be one of only four people who have read history of a drowning boy
01:00:42
in a 2018 article he wrote for the Daily Mail Coffey said Nielsen told me it was
01:00:51
the first serious attempt to explore his psychological condition in truth it was
01:00:58
a work of abject self-pity both the rust coffee and brian masters have warned readers of their books that Nelson's own
01:01:08
accounts are not necessarily trustworthy this has been echoed by others including
01:01:14
a man who served alongside Nelson in the Army during the early 1970s who told coffee having been stationed with the
01:01:24
bloke and having seen documentaries I have often been struck by how much journalists assume what he says is
01:01:31
actually true I would advise anyone writing about him to take his autobiographical claims with
01:01:40
a large pinch of salt in early 2012 a new bill was tabled in British Parliament that addressed the subject of
01:01:52
whole life prison tariffs it was proposed that certain prisoners with life sentences should be put before the
01:02:00
parole board after serving 30 years in order to ascertain whether it was still necessary to keep them incarcerated for
01:02:08
the protection of the public if the bill passed Nielson would be eligible for a parole board review in
01:02:16
2013 On February 9 2012 the bill was debated in Parliament by the House of Lords and de Nelson was put forward as
01:02:27
an example upon his return to full sutton prison in late 2001 one of the facilities education officers noticed
01:02:37
that Nelson displayed certain characteristics and skills that could be harnessed to the public good he was
01:02:45
taught to write in Braille and went on to transcribe more than 87 published books in addition to figuring out how to
01:02:53
describe graphs in Braille so that he could translate science textbooks for blind children in Parliament this was
01:03:02
provided as an example of how someone who had been rejected by society was still able to make a positive
01:03:08
contribution to the community Lord Tom McNally debated that the seriousness of a particularly heinous
01:03:17
crime does not diminish over time and that the whole life tariff reflects such seriousness with regard to Nelson's work
01:03:27
for the blind Lord a McNally stated such activity is to be commended for the good that it does to others and it shows
01:03:37
that an offender can engage in purposeful activity even where there may be no prospect of release there is no
01:03:46
doubt that an offender can do good while in prison but that does not necessarily
01:03:51
mean that his risk is diminished the bill was ultimately rejected by Parliament ensuring Dennis Nilsen
01:04:01
would spend the rest of his natural life in prison in the early morning hours of
01:04:10
Thursday May 10 2008 een Neilson complained to prison wardens that he was experiencing abdominal pain a few hours
01:04:20
later he was taken to the nurses clinic which was out of character as he typically refused all offers of health
01:04:27
care although all of his vital signs were normal the nurses took his complaint seriously given his usual
01:04:36
reluctance to engage with medical intervention he was seen by a doctor who suspected Nielson was suffering from a
01:04:44
urine infection or kidney stones and he was given paracetamol and sent back to his cell at 2:15 that afternoon prison
01:04:55
wardens found Nilsson naked and asleep on the toilet in his cell barely responsive and in a disorientated state
01:05:04
healthcare assistance was called but due to miscommunications and assumptions those responding did not appreciate the
01:05:12
seriousness of his condition and it was nearly three hours until a doctor attended to Nielson over the course of
01:05:22
the day Nelson's condition significantly worsened and at 6 p.m. paramedics arrived to transfer him by ambulance to
01:05:30
York District Hospital where he was diagnosed as having a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm
01:05:39
Nielsen had been offered a screening test for this condition 18 months earlier in December of 2016 as was
01:05:47
standard procedure for men over the age of 65 but had declined due to his disinterest in engaging with health care
01:05:56
had he been screened there was a high likelihood the condition would have been detected in its early stages and treated
01:06:03
accordingly instead Nielsen underwent emergency surgery and was then placed in the
01:06:10
intensive care unit the following day he was operated on a second time but the internal bleeding caused by the rupture
01:06:19
couldn't be stopped at 9:20 the next morning Saturday May 12 mm 18 Dennis Nilsen died at the age of 72 two days
01:06:34
later journalists Russ coffee wrote an article for the Daily Mail which read I feel a
01:06:41
sense of relief at his passing Dennis Nilsen liked to portray himself as a serial killer worthy of Hollywood as
01:06:49
sick a genius like Hannibal Lecter with the emotional complexity of Norman Bates
01:06:55
in psycho in his own distorted mind he was a crusader a poet a composer and a wit the Oscar Wilde of mass murderers
01:07:06
but in truth this deluded manipulative murderer was essentially just a grubby sex offender who was lucky to have got
01:07:15
away with his inadequate and disgusting crimes for as long as he did Neilsen wanted to believe he was a
01:07:23
unique case in fact he was the opposite prisons are full of people like him it's just that Nelson was good at
01:07:33
spinning his own mythology and too many people wanted to believe it he wanted to
01:07:40
be a monster and the world indulged him Dennis Nilsen was not as he wanted us to
01:07:47
believe an exceptional person destroyed by a murderous floor he was just a vile sex criminal whose brain lacked a
01:07:56
crucial component On June 7 2018 26 days after Nelson's death his body was cremated in secret and his ashes were
01:08:09
given to an unidentified friend the secrecy surrounding his funeral arrangements resulted from the 2017
01:08:18
controversy regarding the disposal of the remains of Moore's murderer Ian Brady prior to his death Brady had
01:08:26
requested that his ashes be scattered in his home city of Glasgow Scotland the Glasgow city authorities refused
01:08:34
permission and his ashes were instead placed in a cardboard container and dumped at sea the current whereabouts of
01:08:43
Nelson's ashes has not been made public he was never charged for the murders of Stephen Holmes Graham Allen or for the
01:08:51
attempted murders of Carlotta Tosh omitsu ozawa Andrew Howe or Trevor Simpson the seven other victims he
01:09:00
claimed to have murdered and burned at his Melrose Avenue flat have never been identified
01:09:11
in terms of the sheer number of victims Dennis Nilsen is considered one of the most prolific serial killers in British
01:09:19
history second only to dr. Harold Shipman a general practitioner suspected of killing as many as 215 of his patients
01:09:29
during the 1990s the fundamental question as to why Nielson killed remains up for debate in the BBC
01:09:40
documentary killing for company Brian masters claims that after Nielson was convicted he commented I have to
01:09:50
come clean with you Brian I should have told you before but I did it because I enjoyed it expanding on this Nielson
01:10:01
wrote a letter to masters that read I had always wished to kill but the opportunity never really presented
01:10:09
itself in safe conditions the kill was only part of the whole the whole experience which thrilled me intensely
01:10:18
was the drink the chase the social seduction to getting the friend back the decision to kill the body and its
01:10:27
disposal the pressure needed release he denied feeling hatred towards his victims and claimed that sex or murder
01:10:38
was never his intention when inviting the men back to his home insisting he only ever sought a warm relationship and
01:10:46
someone to talk to masters believes that Nelson's habit of carefully washing the bodies of his
01:10:53
victims and placing them on a chair in front of the television indicates quote the stark unpalatable fact that Nelson
01:11:04
killed for company to have someone to talk to someone to care for Shayne Levine son of victim Graham Allen
01:11:16
disagrees with master's theory as he sees it as a sympathetic and comforting notion Shayne believes that while
01:11:25
Nelson's loneliness sent a need for company played a role in the killings sex was the biggest motivator a post on
01:11:34
Shane's blog reads I think Nilson got a bigger sexual kick from the murders than
01:11:41
he has ever admitted sexual impulse is one of the few psychological states that really take us out of ourselves and to
01:11:50
make the perverse and grotesque exciting and realizable and as with many sexual fetishes after they have been fulfilled
01:11:59
one feels disgusted horrified and saddened by them others believe that Nelson killed because he enjoyed the
01:12:10
feeling of having power over his victims journalists thrust coffee comments in his book that the statements Nelson gave
01:12:18
imply that he killed whenever he was feeling low in order to satisfy his sex ritual to temporarily relieve him of his
01:12:27
feelings of inadequacy reflecting on the case years later DCI J told television show Britain's
01:12:36
most evil killers quote Nelson was so ordinary you begin to think to yourself how many more of them are around how
01:12:47
many more Nelson's are around I've never met anybody like him before in my life you deal with people as police officers
01:12:56
and you stick them in the evil box or cry for help box there's always a box but Nelson I never got to the bottom of
01:13:05
I couldn't understand at all the ground floor flat at Melrose Avenue in creeper would wet Nielsen killed 12
01:13:18
of his victims was purchased by a young couple in April 2016 it sold for 493 thousand pounds or just
01:13:28
under 1 million Australian dollars which was considered a good deal for its size
01:13:33
and location the couple completely renovated the flat installing new pipes floorboards and a new garden they told
01:13:44
the Sun newspaper we know a lot of people would not live here but from the moment people see what the place looks
01:13:52
like it puts that to rest of course you feel for the victims but I'm sure in a street like this there have been a lot
01:14:01
of deaths as for the flat at cranly Gardens in Muswell Hill the entire kitchen was relocated to London's crime
01:14:11
Museum at the Metropolitan Police Headquarters after Nielsen's trial better known as the black Museum the
01:14:20
private facility displays items of criminal significance from the past 145 years and is used to educate new police
01:14:28
recruits Nielsen's kitchen display includes the cooking pot he used to boil the heads of his victims as well as a
01:14:37
sample of the boiled flesh he flushed down the toilet the flat itself was put up for sale shortly after nelson's
01:14:48
conviction attracting morbidly curious visitors who rummaged through his remaining possessions it has changed
01:14:56
ownership several times over the years and in 2013 it was sold to a developer and extensively refurbished in 2016 the
01:15:08
flats sold for 250,000 pounds the equivalent of 450,000 Australian dollars at the time which was
01:15:17
approximately 100,000 pounds less than other identical flats in the street in late November 2019 it was announced
01:15:28
that British free-to-air TV channel ITV will be producing a three-part scripted series titled des covering Nielsen's
01:15:37
crimes from the perspectives of nelson brian masters and to DCI j dr. whose former leading actor David Tennant has
01:15:47
been cast in the role of Nelson with the show intended for release in mid to late
01:15:53
2020 the show's executive producer Kim varville said Dennis Nielsen's crimes shocked the nation in the early 1980s
01:16:05
our program focuses on the emotional impact of those terrible crimes both on those who came into contact with Nelson
01:16:14
himself and also on the victims families [Music] however some relatives of the victims
01:16:22
have slammed the show as a cash grabbing drama that will force them to relive the
01:16:26
horrific incidents on national television a friend of Billy Sutherlands family told the son it hurt the whole family
01:16:36
Nielsen is dead but the victims families aren't the Sutherland family have previously spoken out against the way
01:16:45
Billy's murder was covered by the press as he was reported as being gay and a sex worker both of which were incorrect
01:16:54
in a 2013 interview with the Daily Mail Billy's younger brother Seton Sutherland
01:17:01
stated Billy was the biggest womanizer going knowing Billy he probably thought Nelson
01:17:09
was being friendly towards him because they were both Scots I hate the fact that every time I search on the internet
01:17:17
for Billy Sutherland which is also the name of my son that a picture of my brother comes up with the words male
01:17:24
prostitute next to a photograph of Nelson I'm angry that's how my brother's remembered Seaton said that after Billy
01:17:36
was identified as one of Nelson's victims his marine engineer father couldn't bear to return to work and his
01:17:43
mother developed depression she had hoped to see Nielson die in prison but both of his parents passed away before
01:17:52
Nielsen's demise Shane Levine writes on his blog about the profound effect his father graham
01:18:01
Allen's death had on his mother Leslie who spiraled into alcoholism after Nielsen's trial and attempted suicide
01:18:09
numerous times as Shane was only nine years old when Graham was killed and not close with his father he considers
01:18:18
himself to be a secondary victim explaining that although the murder didn't take a direct emotional toll on
01:18:25
his life his mother's reaction and behavior had a significant impact shane writes of his childhood quote it was
01:18:36
horrendous and vulgar and perverted but gave me unique eyes and a unique insight
01:18:42
into suffering and despair a master's degree in the filth of a life Shayne himself struggled with the drug
01:18:53
addiction but holds no ill feelings towards Nelson expressing that he doesn't want to waste time pondering the
01:19:00
butterfly effect of someone else's choices quote after everything we still determine our own actions we must live
01:19:12
and die by our swords we cannot blame our enemy for us taking up arms that is a bitter and all-consuming road to take
01:19:34
[Music] you [Music]