Sarah Kirk
“As is my desire, the most beautiful creature in my universe is sleek, slim, male youth.”
-Dennis Nilsen.
Dennis Nilsen was born in 1945 in Aberdeenshire, UK. Like most serial killers, his childhood was unfortunate. However, Nilsen stands out because of his sexual orientation. Media coverage mostly revolves around heterosexual killers, so, when we hear of a gay serial killer, it sparks interest. His story is not unlike other serial killers’ backgrounds. Due to his parents’ unhappy marriage, Nilsen, his siblings, and his mother lived with his maternal grandfather. The reason for Nilsen’s crimes can be traced back to a pivotal moment in his childhood. Nilsen admitted to having a great admiration for his grandfather. The death of his grandfather is when Nilsen’s perception of death and love became confused. It was suggested that Nilsen and his grandfather had a more than close relationship, so when he passed, Nilsen’s co-dependency ceased abruptly. “His abrupt disappearance left a vacuum in my consciousness” Nilsen recalled his grandfather would act sexually toward him and take him to a dark place where he could only see out of two window slits. Nilsen believed this relationship to be love. However, to this day, there is no concrete evidence that Nilsen’s grandfather was a pedophile. There is only Nilsen’s word.
Even his mother questions where things could have gone wrong. When reporters came asking questions, she denied that Dennis had any problems. She described him as a quiet and normal boy. On the other hand, Dennis recounts himself as an inwardly troubled boy, yet no one seemed to notice. He classified being gay as an attack on his self-esteem, on top of being poor and having no father figure growing up. Moral principles from church and views on homosexuality from society made him retreat inward at a young age. Society views gay men a tad more favorably today than they did back in the mid to late 1900s. Nonetheless, Nilsen always felt like an outsider and blamed the environment and society for negatively treating him.
After enlisting in the army in 1972, he applied for the police academy. During his time in the army, he worked as a butcher. When looking back, it makes one question his reasoning for him choosing that profession. As his fantasies grew, he began to act on them. He stripped naked and put talcum powder over himself, to have the likeliness of a corpse. Afterward, he would masturbate. In Memories of a Murderer: The Nilsen Tapes, an ex-cop associate of Nilsen’s describes a chilling incident. That associate recalls a night when he was called to investigate an assault. Upon entering, the detective noticed blood everywhere and smashed windows. Later, it would be revealed that a young teenager had been taken from the address and transported to the hospital. He had been picked up in a bar and taken to a flat by a man with a Scottish voice. He was supplied with heavy amounts of alcohol and had awoken to a naked man walking toward him. He figured his only escape was to jump out the window. Back at the police station, Nilsen’s associate had suspected him based on the voice and description. Nilsen replied, “if you don’t have the evidence to arrest me you have to let me go.” No charges were pressed.
On December 29, 1978, he met his first victim, Stephen Holmes. His MO (modus operandi) consisted of picking men up at gay bars and luring them home. Many of the victims were homeless, alone, and vulnerable. Nilsen invited Holmes home for a night together but come morning, Nilsen didn’t want Stephen to go. He strangled him using a tie and drowned him in a bucket of water. He then placed Holmes’s corpse onto the bed and admired it. After an unsuccessful attempt at sex with the corpse, he fell asleep next to the dead body. Holmes is then placed underneath the floorboard for 7 months. After those few months, the smell became a nuisance and Nilsen removed the body and burned the remains in his backyard garden. This method of removal is what he would use with his other victims.
Kenneth Ockendon was the second victim. December 3rd, 1979, Ockendon was invited to Nilsen’s apartment and strangled with an electrical cable. Nilsen photographed the corpse and began to fornicate. After his evening activities, he placed the body inside the floorboards. Frequently, he would take Ockendon out of the floorboards for late-night chats. 16-year-old Martyn Duffey, a homeless youth was Nilsen’s third victim. On May 13th, 1980, Nilsen invited Duffey to spend the night where he strangled and drowned him. Like before, the corpse is placed on the bed, but this time Nilsen masturbates. His body is then stuffed into a wardrobe for two weeks before being moved to the floorboards. Billy Sutherland, age 27 was Nilsen’s fourth victim. Following Sutherlands’ death, Malcolm Barlow, a 24-year-old with developmental disabilities was murdered. Many more men continued to die at the hands of Nilsen. With his fourteenth victim, Nilsen added a twist. This victim was high and stumbling around West End. Nilsen took this as an opportunity. He strangled him and sat the body in an armchair for two days. During those two days, Nilsen would place himself and the body in front of the television as if it were a normal Sunday morning. On the third night, he removed the man’s clothes, covered the body in talcum powder, stands him up in front of a mirror, and begins to masturbate onto the corpse.
Why does a criminal resort to necrophilia? Most psychologists believe it stems from poor self-esteem and fear of rejection. “The most common motive for necrophilia is a possession of an unresisting and un-rejecting partner.” Nilsen’s method of killing was strangulation, which is usually associated with sexual gratification. We normally see strangulation crimes where a male is the perpetrator, and the victim is a female. We very rarely see male-on-male strangulation. Overall, it’s clear that Nilsen’s poor self-image and hatred of himself contributed to his attraction towards corpses, along with his warped view on love and death, stemming from experiences with his grandfather.
At this point, Nilsen had accumulated many bodies in his apartment. In 1982, Nilsen moved to another apartment, which proved to be difficult in discarding human remains because it had smaller floorboards and no garden space. During his time in the smaller apartment, he resorted to other methods of removal such as boiling the heads, feet, and hands. Since there was no garden space, which meant no bonfire, he stuffed the remains into the toilets (which would lead into the pipes of the building) and into plastic bags. In the apartment on Melrose Avenue, only miles away, he placed the remains in his garden, backyard shed, and stuffed the rest in plastic bags. The smell became too horrendous that neighbors began to complain but Nilsen blamed it on infrastructure failures. The drainage block, resulting from the human remains, became so clogged that a drainage specialist was called in to inspect.
Mike Cattran, an engineer, found the human remains at Cranley Gardens. That was the catalyst for Nilsen’s arrest and trial. The source turned out to be the remains from Nilsen’s body chopping block. Tenants gathered around as the body parts were discovered. The drain engineer found it rather odd when one man was intrigued by the findings, to his recollection he stated, “the guy on the top floor flat”. That man was Dennis Nilsen. On February 9, the police questioned Nilsen. Detective Chief Inspector Jay entered Nilsen’s home and Nilsen said to the detective that what he was looking for was in plastic bags in his apartment. Nilsen was taken into custody on the suspicion of murder. Upon arrest, he confessed in extensive detail to murdering 15 men and attempted murder of 7. He confessed to picking men up at gay bars and bringing them home. The next morning, he would wake up with a dead body beside him. He claimed he couldn’t remember what happened.
At 195 Melrose Avenue, just miles away from Cranley Gardens, forensic examiners discovered human remains buried in the garden. A forensic pathologist on the case found that the remains from Cranley Gardens had strangulation marks on the remains. The main question was how did Nilsen manage to kill 15 men without anyone noticing? He chose his victims carefully by picking people that no one would notice if they went missing. Young male prostitutes, homeless youth, runaways, and drug addicts were his victims of choice. Throughout the investigation, Nilsen was more than happy to help. By giving police information about his victims, he was able to relive his crimes. He wrote extensive notes to help the police identify the victims. As one might expect, the media ate it up. Everyone wanted to know about Nilsen and how he got away with murder for an extended period. Nilsen was charged with 6 counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder on October 24th, 1983. He pleaded not guilty due to a mental defect. It’s important to note that insanity defense cases are very rarely successful.
Ivan Lawrence, Nilsen’s defense counsel supported the mental defect defense. He says the law states you can behave normally for a period, but when you commit a crime (i.e., murder), there is a possibility that one can be deranged during that period and go back to behaving normally. This is known as diminished responsibility. Dr. James MacKeith and Dr. Patrick Gallwey supported the diminished responsibility defense. They mentioned his troubled childhood and how it played a vital role in his formation. It was explained that he was incapable of expressing his feelings and didn’t have a strong sense of identity, which caused frustration and confusion. After these conclusions, Dr. Gallwey diagnosed Nilsen with false self-syndrome making him incapable of premeditation. In response, the prosecution stated that while he was abnormal, his actions were not due to any impairment. Dr. Paul Bowden, a psychiatrist for the prosecution, found no evidence of false self-syndrome. He viewed Nilsen as manipulative with signs of mental abnormality but still cognizant of his actions, and therefore responsible.
Thankfully, the prosecution had insurmountable amounts of evidence to present. The interview notes from Nilsen provided over 4 hours of content to be read to the jury. The most damning evidence was the photographs taken at the crime scene. Included in the photographs were the chopping board and cooking pot for the bodies. They are now on display in the Black Museum in Scotland Yard. Scotland Yard holds the most morbid artifacts of infamous UK crimes. However, the trial came with its challenges. It proved difficult to convince victims to testify because 1980s London was not a comfortable place for the gay population. Gay men and women were ostracized, and homophobia was rampant throughout British society. There was a very low likelihood that any of the victims would testify for the fear of being outed to the world. Nevertheless, Carl Stotter, one of Nilsen’s survivors agreed.
During the Nilsen investigation, a detective interviewed Carl Stotter. Traumatized, Stotter had pushed the event out of his mind until the interviewer mentioned what was used to strangle him, a sleeping bag zipper. On the night of the attempted murder of Stotter’s life, Nilsen had mentioned to Stotter that he should be careful to not get caught in the zipper of the sleeping bag. This piece of information was proof Nilsen had premeditated the murder. Stotter passed out and woke up to a cold sensation. Nilsen tried to drown Stotter in a bathtub of freezing water after strangling him. He managed to escape and contact the police, but they didn’t believe him. Five other men filed complaints to the police about Nilsen; all were ignored. Stotter was one of the few to come forward and testify. By November 3rd, 1983, the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict, so a judge agreed to accept a majority verdict. Ten jurors out of twelve found Nilsen to be guilty on all counts of murder and both counts of attempted murder. Nilsen was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for at least 25 years.
Nilsen knew cops were not going to look for runaways, drug addicts, or male sex workers, as they were low on the totem pole of society. Dennis preyed upon young vulnerable men and got away with it for years because of how certain groups of people are viewed in society. Society and the police should be held accountable for their prejudiced ideas, and for not following every complaint they received. If society continues to view the crimes against runaways, prostitutes, drug addicts, and the vulnerable youth as low priority, it reinforces the idea that these missing persons don’t matter. The cycle will continue because there isn’t enough media attention to shed light on situations like these. Nilsen knew nobody would care and he used that to his advantage. This case was brought about not by the victims or someone noticing a victim had gone missing but by a complaint about infrastructure, a blocked drainage pipe.
Only 8 out of 15 victims were identified. Here are the known victims:
- Kenneth Ockendon (23)
- John Howlett (23)
- Stephen Holmes (14)
- Graham Allan (27)
- Steven Sinclair(20)
- Martyn Duffey (16)
- Malcolm Barlow (23)
- William Sutherland (26)
- Carl Stotter (died aged 52 in 2013)
References:
- A&E Networks Television. Dennis Nilsen. Biography.com. https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/dennis-nilsen.
- Who are Dennis Nilsen’s victims? The US Sun. https://www.the-sun.com/news/1478375/dennis-nilsen-victims/.
- Tron, G. Is that a bird in Dennis Nilsen’s cell? A look into animals behind bars. Oxygen Official Site. https://www.oxygen.com/true-crime-buzz/from-the-bird-man-of-alcatraz-to-dennis-nilson-a-look-a-pets-behind-bars.
- https://www.netflix.com/title/81097791
- PJ; R. J. P. R. Sexual attraction to corpses: A psychiatric review of necrophilia. The Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2667656/.
- NBCUniversal News Group. Scotland Yard’s crime museum opens to public for first time in 140 years. NBCNews.com. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/scotland-yards-crime-museum-opens-public-first-time-140-years-n462901.
