Serial killer Dennis Nilsen ‘confesses to a string of new crimes’ from beyond the grave as victim’s families brand his upcoming autobiography a ‘slap in the face’

  • Nilsen murdered at least 15 men at flat in North London, between 1978 and 1983
  • Autobiography titled History of a Drowning Boy and published by RedDoor Press
  • Possessions included 6,000 pages of typewritten notes Nilsen made in prison

By Emily Webber For Mailonline

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Serial killer Dennis Nilsen has 'confessed to a string of new crimes' from beyond the grave.

A further three previously unknown victims are understood to be revealed in n upcoming autobiography set to be released this week.

Nilsen murdered at least 15 men at his flat in North London, between 1978 and 1983, before human remains were discovered in a blocked drain at his flat and he was arrested.  

The autobiography, titled History of a Drowning Boy and published by RedDoor Press, includes the former civil servant posthumously confessing to a set of new crimes. 

Nilsen murdered at least 15 men at his flat in North London, between 1978 and 1983, before human remains were discovered in a blocked drain at his flat and he was arrested

Nilsen murdered at least 15 men at his flat in North London, between 1978 and 1983, before human remains were discovered in a blocked drain at his flat and he was arrested

The new book includes a confession to a sex attack on a drunken solider, 10 years before he committed his first murder, and the strangulation of at least two previously unknown male victims, according to The Sunday Times. 

Nilsen denies cannibalism in the book, which was written from 6,000 pages of typed notes he left to a prison pen pal after his death.

But he admitted he had previously contemplated the 'culinary possibilities' of those he killed and describes one body part as like 'beef rump steaks'.

'It’s a slap in the face. It’s as if he’s still laughing at us from beyond the grave,' a friend close to a bereaved relative told the publication.

'When he died, this book should have died with him.'

Graphic designer Mark Austin, from Bedfordshire, was nominated by Nilsen as his next of kin and he was handed all of his possessions when he died in May 2018. 

Dennis Nilsen (right) leaves the Highgate Court in north London in 1983. The former civil servant died aged 72, in 2018

Dennis Nilsen (right) leaves the Highgate Court in north London in 1983. The former civil servant died aged 72, in 2018

The possessions included typewritten notes which Nilsen made in prison as a category-A inmate.  

The former civil servant died aged 72, in 2018, while serving a life sentence for killing young men in the 70s and 80s who were mostly drifters he met in pubs.

In all of the cases, the victims were either gay, or Nilsen suspected them of being gay.

The autobiography, titled History of a Drowning Boy and published by RedDoor Press, the former civil servant posthumously confesses to a set of new crimes

The autobiography, titled History of a Drowning Boy and published by RedDoor Press, the former civil servant posthumously confesses to a set of new crimes

Dennis Nilsen: The Muswell Hill murderer who slaughtered 15 men

Dennis Nilsen killed at least 15 men over a period of six years in London in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Most of his victims were homosexual or homeless men who he would pick up in bars across London or on the street.

After inviting them to his home, Nilsen would ply his victims with food and alcohol before killing then. His preferred method was strangulation.

Once dead, he dismembered their bodies by dissecting them in his house. In his first address, Melrose Avenue, he buried their remains in the garden. In Cranley Gardens however he was forced to take other measures.

Once arrested he told police how he boiled the heads of his victims in a large cooking pot to dispose of their brains.

Nilsen (right), with a prison warden at his side, after he was sentenced to a minimum of 25 years imprisonment after being convicted of six murders and two attempted murders at the Old Bailey

Nilsen (right), with a prison warden at his side, after he was sentenced to a minimum of 25 years imprisonment after being convicted of six murders and two attempted murders at the Old Bailey

He would cut up the rest of their bodies and store them in plastic bin bags at the property. When the stench of their rotting corpses became stronger, he tried to flush their limbs down the toilet and drains.

This caused a large blockage in the pipes. Seemingly oblivious to risk, Nilsen audaciously complained to a waste company about the blockage and asked for it to be resolved because he and other residents were suffering as a result.

When a worker Dyno-Rod arrived at the property in 1983 to unblock them, he discovered what appeared to be flesh and fragments of bone when he opened a drain cover outside the property.

The following day, after inspecting another section of pipe, he and his supervisor discovered what they thought were bones of a human hand.

They alerted police who arrested Nilsen as he returned home from work. While in custody he admitted to killing at least 15 people.

London

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