yoursonsandyourhusbands:
“ Dennis Nilsen, a serial killer who murdered at least 12 people (although the true count may be 16+) in London between 1978 and 1983.
The exact motive of ‘the kindly killer’ Dennis Nilsen is not known, although some say it...

yoursonsandyourhusbands
 
Dennis Nilsen, a serial killer who murdered at least 12 people (although the true count may be 16+) in London between 1978 and 1983.

The exact motive of ‘the kindly killer’ Dennis Nilsen is not known, although some say it was simply for company. After moving to London from Scotland Nilsen was a lonely man, spending most nights home alone listening to classical music.
After a time Nilsen began to frequent gay bars around London, although it would seem he was more interested in conversation than sex. Nilsen also suffered from depression much of his life, especially around the Christmas season of 1978 when he contemplated suicide. Instead of killing himself however, Nilsen began to kill others.
The day before New Year’s Eve of 1978 Nilsen invited a young Irish man back to his home. They spent the night together but Nilsen awoke first and was struck with ‘a desire to keep him as his companion forever’. Dennis Nilsen committed his first murder by strangling the young man to death.

Over the following years Dennis Nilsen continued to murder. His victims were all young men, strangling them and burying them beneath his floorboards. As time went on, Nilsen began to dismember his victims and boil their bodies in hot water.

Eventually Nilsen was arrested, but only after being suspected of one, or at most two murders. When asked by police: “Is it one body or two?” He responded: “Fifteen or sixteen, since 1978.”

Dennis Nilsen appeared unemotional and calm during his trial although he was fully co-operative with police and prosecutors. Despite pleading not guilty, he assisted prosecutors by drawing what he called ‘sad sketches’. These depicted what Nilsen did to his victims, and he drew over fifty. He remains alive in prison today, age 72, at one point having appealed for a judicial review over the prison’s decision not to grant him access to gay pornography.

yoursonsandyourhusbands
 
Nilsen is no longer alive in prison, having died today aged 72.