Dennis Nilsen

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dennis Andrew Nilsen (born November 23, 1945 in Fraserburgh ; † May 12, 2018 HMP Full Sutton , Pocklington , East Yorkshire) was a Scottish serial killer.

Life

Dennis Nilsen was born as the younger of two sons to Betty and Olav Nilsen. His father, a Norwegian soldier and alcoholic , left the family when Nilsen was two years old. After his parents' divorce, his mother remarried in 1954 and took the surname Scott. Nilsen grew up in the care of his grandfather, a fisherman, for three years. His death at sea was a decisive experience for Nilsen, after which he developed into a loner.

In 1961 Nilsen went to the British Army , where he learned the profession of cook and was trained as a butcher. During this time he began to drink; he had no close friendships. In 1972 Nilsen left the army to become a police officer , but gave up the job after nine months. He then worked for a security service for a short time, and a little later as an interviewer for the Manpower Services Commission . In 1975 Nilsen lived in a shared apartment with David Gallichan, who was ten years his junior and to whom he was very close , even though he always denied a homosexual relationship. When Gallichan left London in May 1977 , Nilsen was bitter.

His first victim , 14-year-old Stephen Holmes, met Nilsen in December 1978 in a pub . He took him to his home, where he offered to stay with him for the night. Holmes refused, but fell asleep drunk in the armchair. Fearing that he might leave him when he woke up, Nilsen strangled him with a tie. He then stripped the body, washed it, as he did after each of his murders, and hid it under the floorboards of his apartment until August 1979. Then he burned the body in the garden, along with a few tires.

In November 1979 he met a Chinese man in Salisbury who he took home with him, where he willingly let him tie him to his bed. When Nilsen tried to strangle him, the Chinese fled and filed a complaint. However, the police believed Nilsen's version that the Chinese tried to rob him and released him.

His next victim was the 23-year-old Canadian Kenneth James Ockenden. Nilsen met him in High Holborn in December and invited him to his home. There Ockenden put on headphones and listened to music. When Ockenden still paid him no attention until midnight, Nilsen felt rejected and strangled him with a cable. After the fact, he listened to music for hours. Only the next day did he try to hide the body under the floorboards; but in vain, since rigor mortis had already started. So he dismembered the body and buried it in the garden. This is how he committed all of his murders, or similar.

The investigation of the case began in early February 1983 when the pipes in a house in north London were clogged. The tenants called a plumber who found several pieces of meat in the pipes. Since there were some finger bones under the meat, the craftsman called the police. When questioned by the police, Nilsen confessed that it was the meat of two men he recently murdered. He let the police into his home, where they found several plastic bags with body parts. After his arrest, Nilsen confessed to the murder of 15 to 16 men, 3 of them in his current apartment and 12 to 13 in his previous one.

On October 24, 1983, the trial opened in the Central Criminal Court . Although Nilsen had confessed to 15 murders and 5 attempted murders, he was only charged with 6 murders and 2 attempted murders. On November 4th he was found guilty of all charges and sentenced to life in prison.

Dennis Nilsen died on May 12, 2018 in the HMP Full Sutton maximum security prison near Pocklington in East Yorkshire.

literature

  • Murakami, Peter / Murakami, Julia: Lexicon of serial killers . Munich: Ullstein, 9th edition 2003. ISBN 3-548-35935-3
  • Masters, Brian: Lifeless Lovers. The murders of Dennis Nilsen . Reinbek near Hamburg: Rowohlt 1994. ISBN 3-499-19642-5

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Gerhard Mauz: A clear touch of humbug ... In: Der Spiegel . November 21, 1983. Retrieved November 21, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Serial killer Dennis Nilsen dies in prison aged 72 . In: The Guardian . May 12, 2018. Retrieved May 13, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Nilsen, Dennis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nilsen, Dennis Andrew
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British serial killer
DATE OF BIRTH November 23, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH Fraserburgh
DATE OF DEATH May 12, 2018
Place of death HMP Full Sutton, Pocklington , East Riding of Yorkshire