To both Cattran and Wheeler, the bones looked as if they originated from a human hand. According to Nilsen, he had been drinking heavily alone on the day he met Holmes before deciding in the evening that he must "at all costs" leave his flat and seek company. Gallichan later informed police that he was sexually "uninterested" in Nilsen. [85] When the bonfire had been reduced to ashes and cinders, Nilsen used a rake to search the debris for any recognisable bones. I bring [with me] people who are not always allowed to leave because I want them to share my experiences and high feeling. [10][11] When he replied that he did, he was taken into the room where his grandfather lay in an open coffin. The majority of Nilsen's victims were homeless or gay men; others were heterosexual people he typically met in bars, on public transport oron one occasionoutside his own home. Nilsen died on 12 May. DCI Jay later dismissed Nilsen's claims to have killed only twelve victims, stating that in the more than thirty hours of interviews police had conducted with Nilsen, when discussing the fifteen victims he had initially confessed to killing, he had never provided any inconsistencies in the physical characteristics, the date or place of encounter, the act of murder, or the ritual he observed with the body of any of the fifteen victims.[187]. Kenneth had one sibling: Raymond Ockenden. His father did not view married life with any seriousness, being preoccupied with his duties with the Free Norwegian Forces and making little attempt to spend much time with or find a new home for his wife. Upon leaving Nilsen's residence, Stewart had reported the attack to police, who in turn questioned Nilsen. [176] Several items confiscated from Nilsen's Cranley Gardens addresssome of which had been introduced as evidence at Nilsen's trialare on display at New Scotland Yard's Crime Museum. Between 1978 and 1983, Nilsen is known to have killed a minimum of twelve men and boys, and to have attempted to kill seven others (he initially confessed in 1983 to having killed about sixteen victims). Former Doctor Who star David Tennant is due to play one of Britain's. Over two days, Bowden testified that, although he found Nilsen to be abnormal in a colloquial sense, he had concluded Nilsen to be a manipulative person who had been capable of forming relationships, but had forced himself to objectify people. Each victim killed between 1978 and 1981 at his Cricklewood residence was disposed of via burning upon a bonfire. Ockenden was sadly killed on December 3, 1979, at Nilsens home on Melrose Avenue. Dennis Andrew Nilsen (23 November 1945 - 12 May 2018) was a Scottish serial killer and necrophile who murdered at least twelve young men and boys between 1978 and 1983 in London.Convicted at the Old Bailey of six counts of murder and two of attempted murder, Nilsen was sentenced to life imprisonment on 4 November 1983, with a recommendation that he serve a minimum of 25 years. [58] The victims killed in 1982 and 1983 at his Muswell Hill residence were retained at his flat, with their flesh and smaller bones flushed down the lavatory. The torsos and limbs of the three victims killed at this address were dissected within about one week of their murder before being wrapped in plastic bags and stowed in the three locations he had indicated to police; the internal organs and smaller bones he flushed down the toilet. At home, he seldom participated in family activities and retreated from any attempts by adult family members to demonstrate any affection towards him. Nilsen grew to resent what he saw as the unfair amount of attention his mother, grandmother and later, stepfather displayed towards his older brother and younger sister. [116] Nilsen questioned further as to why the police were interested in his drains, to which he was informed the blockage had been caused by human remains. Noting a skull was still intact, he smashed it to pieces with his rake. Of Nilsen's eight identified victims, only threeStephen Holmes, Kenneth Ockenden and Graham Allenhad a permanent address at the time of their murder, with the remaining victims largely (though not exclusively) consisting of vagrants, runaways and male prostitutes. "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. [24] He relished the travel opportunities afforded him in his training, and recalled as a highlight his regiment taking part in a ceremonial parade attended by both the Queen and Field Marshal Lord Montgomery of Alamein. [135], According to Nilsen, upon being transferred to Brixton Prison to await trial, his mood was one of "resignation and relief", with his belief being that he would be viewed, in accordance with law, as innocent until proven guilty. Central Television challenged the Home Office ruling in court, citing sections of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, and that full permission to conduct an interview with Nilsen had been granted in advance. [41] In August, following a failed relationship, Nilsen came to the conclusion that his personal lifestyle was at odds with his job. He frequented the Black. His ashes were later handed to his family. All present viewed the topic with derision, except Nilsen, who ardently spoke in defence of gay rights. Nilsen's first murder victim was identified in 2006 as 14-year-old Stephen Holmes. During the summer and autumn of 1973, Nilsen began frequenting gay pubs and engaged in several casual liaisons with men. before Nilsen again submerged Stottor's head beneath the water. This practicewhich had led to his arresthad been the only method he could consider to dispose of the internal organs and soft tissue as, unlike at Melrose Avenue, he had no exclusive use of the garden of the property. Nilsen confirmed that on four occasions, he had removed the accumulated bodies from beneath his floorboards and dissected the remains, and on three of these occasions, he had then disposed of the accumulated remains upon an assembled bonfire. [39] He began to drink alone in the evenings. He met Nilsen at a pub in the West End of London on December 3, 1979. [101], In May 1982, Nilsen encountered Carl Stottor, a 21-year-old gay man, as the young man drank at the Black Cap pub in Camden. To Nilsen, this ruse created the ideal circumstance in which he could visually "split" his personality: in these masturbatory fantasies, Nilsen alternately envisaged himself as being both the domineering and the passive partner. Kenneth Ockenden was one of his first victims and one of the few to be reported missing. [59], Nilsen admitted to engaging in masturbation as he viewed the nude bodies of several of his victims, and to have engaged in sexual acts with six of his victims' bodies,[60] but was adamant that he had never penetrated any of his victims. A university student, Nobbs testified that he accompanied Nilsen to Cranley Gardens for alcohol and sex and woke in the early hours of the morning with "a terrible headache". [32], When Nilsen completed his deployment in Aden, he returned to the UK and was assigned to serve with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders at Seaton Barracks in Plymouth, Devon. Her parents, Andrew and Lily (ne Duthie) Whytewho had never approved of their daughter's choice of husbandwere supportive of their daughter following her divorce and considerate of their grandchildren. In this deployment, Nilsen began to increase his intake of alcohol. I want to get it off my chest. After meeting at a pub, the pair went to a few big tourist spots together . He spent much of his free time reading and writing, and was allowed to paint and compose music upon a keyboard. While stationed at Aldershot, Nilsen's latent feelings began to stir, but he kept his sexual orientation well hidden from his colleagues. [83], In late 1980, Nilsen removed and dissected the bodies of each victim killed since December 1979 and burned them upon a communal bonfire he had constructed on waste ground behind his flat. In a practice which he had conducted upon several victims killed at Melrose Avenue, he also boiled the heads, hands and feet to remove the flesh off these sections of the victims' bodies. Months later, the regiment was transferred to West Berlin, where, the same year, Nilsen had his first sexual experience with a female: a prostitute whose services he solicited. Nilsen was initially resistant to the proposal, but accepted an offer of 1,000 from the landlord to vacate the residence. [65] Holmes' bound corpse remained beneath the floorboards for almost eight months, before Nilsen built a bonfire in the garden behind his flat and burned the body on 11 August 1979. Early 1980: Martyn Duffey is murdered The homeless. [85], "I could only relate to a dead image of the person I could love. The first of these, Paul Nobbs, provided testimony which the prosecution asserted was evidence of Nilsen's self-control and ability to refrain from homicidal impulses. But one man that didn't quite fit the same pattern was Kenneth Ockenden. [151] These factors could be attributed to an unspecified personality disorder from which MacKeith believed Nilsen suffered. The prosecuting counsel, Allan Green QC, argued that Nilsen was sane, in full control of his actions, and had killed with premeditation. Nilsen did not lodge an appeal, accepting that the Crown's casethat he had had the capacity to control his actions and that he had killed with premeditationwas essentially correct. Under English law, the police had forty-eight hours in which to charge Nilsen or release him. Nilsen realised he was still barely alive. Nilsen then invited the student to his house on the promise of a meal and further drinks. Before the end of 1980, he killed a further five victims and attempted to murder one other; only one of these victims whom Nilsen murdered, 26-year-old William Sutherland, has ever been identified. Born in Fraserburgh, he was dubbed the Muswell Hill Murderer after the North London suburb where he strangled and drowned his victims at two homes. Retrieved May 11, 2022, from https://www.dailystar.co.uk/tv/tragic-story-kenneth-ockenden-how-22687397?msclkid=33def74acf9e11ec94964358c15ba4e2 Stephen Dean Holmes (1964-1978). The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. A further search for additional remains at Cranley Gardens on 10 February revealed the lower section of a torso and two legs stowed in a bag in the bathroom, and a skull, a section of a torso, and various bones in the tea chest. It seems necessary for them to have been dead in order that I could express those feelings which were the feelings I held sacred for my grandfather it was a pseudo-sexual, infantile love which had not yet developed and matured. Investigators recovered over 1,000 fragments of bone from the garden behind Melrose Avenue, many of them blackened and charred by fire. In what Nilsen later described as his most vivid childhood recollection, his mother, weeping, asked him whether he wanted to see his grandfather. No sexual activity had occurred, but this incident fuelled Nilsen's sexual fantasies, which initially involved his sexual partnerinvariably a young, slender malebeing completely passive. [17] At the age of 14, he joined the Army Cadet Force, viewing the British Army as a potential avenue for escaping his rural origins.[21]. In these instances, whenever he and his colleagues drank to excess, Nilsen would pretend he was inebriated in the hope one of his colleagues would make sexual use of his supposedly unconscious body. He had been on a tour around Britain when he met Nilsen in a pub, and was invited back to his flat for a meal. Dennis Nilsen murdered 12 boys and men in North London between 1978 to 1983 BBC2's The Nilsen Files, explores whether killer could have been caught sooner Tells untold story of Canadian tourist. Convicted at the Old Bailey of six counts of murder and two of attempted murder, Nilsen was sentenced to life imprisonment on 4 November 1983, with a recommendation that he serve a minimum of 25 years. An epileptic orphan, he had spent most of his life in care homes.. The primary dispute between the prosecuting and defence counsel was not whether Nilsen had killed the victims, but his state of mind before and during the killings. [n 7]. [69][n 4], On 11 October 1979, Nilsen attempted to murder a student from Hong Kong named Andrew Ho, whom he had met in a St Martin's Lane pub and lured to his flat on the promise of sex. [88] By April, Nilsen had killed two further unidentified victims: one of whom he described as an English skinhead whom he had met in Leicester Square; the other he described as "Belfast boy"; a man in his early 20s, approximately 5ft 9in (1.75m) height, whom he had murdered sometime in February. His developed fantasies of sex with an unresistant or deceased partner unfulfilled, Nilsen compensated by imagining sexual encounters with an unconscious body as he masturbated while looking at his own prone, nude body in a mirror. [14] Nilsen initially believed that his fondling of his sister may have been evidence that he was bisexual. [105], On 26 January 1983, Nilsen killed his final victim, 20-year-old Stephen Sinclair. [129] With most victims, Nilsen masturbated as he stood alongside or knelt above the body, and Nilsen confessed to having occasionally engaged in intercrural sex with his victims' bodies, but repeatedly stressed to investigators he had never actually penetrated his victimsexplaining that his victims were "too perfect and beautiful for the pathetic ritual of commonplace sex".[130]. Kenneth Arthur Charles. His attendance record was mediocre, although he frequently volunteered to work overtime, leading several colleagues to suspect he was something of a loner. Most victims had died by strangulation;[127] on several occasions, he had drowned the victims once they had been strangled into unconsciousness. In relation to the first of these three unidentified victims, he later casually reflected: "End of the day, end of the drink, end of a person floorboards back, carpet replaced, and back to work at Denmark Street". Nilsen then led Stottor to a nearby railway station, where he informed the young man he hoped they might meet again before he bade him farewell. [45] In 1979, Nilsen was appointed acting executive officer. Despite only being five years old, Nilsen vividly recalled these walks as being "very long along the harbour, across the wide stretch of beach, up to the sand-dunes, which rise thirty feet behind the beach and on to Inverallochy". The fact Nilsen had selected a university student as a potential victim was at odds with the prosecution's claim that Nilsen intentionally selected rootless males whose disappearance was unlikely to be noted. This is achieved by taking increased amounts of alcohol and plugging into stereo music which mentally removes me to a high plane of ecstasy, joy and tears. Serial killer Dennis Nilsen was 'sexually attracted to childhood bully's dead body' David Tennant, who starred in ITV's Des, said it was "right and proper" that the show was broadcast after he died. Nilsen's recollections of the unidentified victims were vague, but he graphically recalled how each victim had been murdered and just how long the body had been retained before dissection. [18] Nilsen made no efforts to seek sexual contact with any of the peers to whom he was sexually attracted, although he later said he had been fondled by an older youth and did not find the experience unpleasant. [108] Nilsen attempted to dispose of the flesh, internal organs and smaller bones of all three victims killed at Cranley Gardens by flushing their dissected remains down his toilet. [75] Duffey, Nilsen recollected, was both exhausted and hungry, and happily accepted Nilsen's offer of a meal and a bed for the evening. Because many of the boys to whom he was attracted had facial features similar to those of his younger sister, Sylvia, on one occasion he sexually fondled her, believing that his attraction towards boys might be a manifestation of the care he felt for her. Howlett was lured to Nilsen's flat on the promise of continuing drinking with Nilsen. [19] On one occasion, he also caressed and fondled the body of his older brother as he slept. [164] In the prison workshop, Nilsen translated books into braille. He finished his schooling in 1961 and briefly worked in a canning factory as he considered which career path he should choose. And so they missed the opportunity to potentially . [70], Two months after the attempted murder of Ho, on 3 December 1979, Nilsen encountered a 23-year-old Canadian student named Kenneth Ockenden,[71] who had been on a tour of England visiting relatives. [86], On or about 4 January 1981, Nilsen encountered an unidentified man whom he described for investigators as an "18-year-old, blue-eyed" young Scot[87] at the Golden Lion pub in Soho; he was lured to Melrose Avenue upon the promise of partaking in a drinking contest. On 26 January 1993 Judge William Aldous ruled in Central's favour, and the same day, three appeal court judges, Sir Thomas Bingham, Master of the Rolls; Lord Justice McCowan; and Lord Justice Hirst upheld his decision. Family and friends are welcome to leave their condolences on this memorial page and share them with the family. Throughout this committal hearing, he was represented by a solicitor named Ronald Moss, whom he had previously dismissed as his legal representative on 21 April,[137] before Moss was reappointed to the role after Nilsen had complained to magistrates he had been afforded no facilities with which he could mount his own defence. As further details were revealed in the press, including that Nilsen had confessed to murdering more people than any other person in British criminal history. Nilsen held this grip until Duffey became unconscious; he then dragged the youth into his kitchen and drowned him in his sink[76] before bathing with the bodywhich he recollected as being "the youngest-looking I had ever seen. They married after college, both going on to work in the life sciences Kenneth as a medical doctor, and Irene as a botany researcher. I had no other thrill or happiness". A fight ensued, after which Olav Jr. informed his mother that Dennis was gay. Kenneth and Irene Ockenden were the classic high school sweethearts. Kenneth Ockenden was a Canadian student Nilsen invited for a meal Credit: Collect WITH a taste for blood, Nilson didn't leave it long before targeting his next victim, a Canadian tourist called Kenneth Ockenden who he met in a pub on December 3, 1979. [163], In 2003, Nilsen was again transferred to HMP Full Sutton, where he remained incarcerated as a Category A prisoner. He was invited in and, after eating a meal, began drinking rum and coke before falling asleep on the sofa. [173] In his autobiography, Nilsen states that, beginning with his service in the army, he constantly lived two separate lives: his "real life" and his "fantasy life". View our online Press Pack. Immediately after the testimony of Nobbs had concluded, Carl Stottor took the stand to recount how, in May 1982, Nilsen had attempted to strangle and drown him, before bringing him "back to life". [27], Following two years of service in Osnabrck, Nilsen returned to Aldershot, where he passed his official catering exam before being deployed to serve as a cook for the British Army in Norway. He also exchanged letters with numerous people who sought his correspondence. His victims were lured to these addresses through guiletypically the offer of alcohol and/or shelter. This recommendation was later changed to a whole life tariff in December 1994. [66], "I eased him into his new bed [beneath the floorboards] A week later, I wondered whether his body had changed at all or had started to decompose. Contrary to the prosecution claims, the defence counsel asserted that Nobbs' testimony reflected Nilsen's rational self being unable to control his impulses. In an interview conducted on 10 February, Nilsen confessed there were further human remains stowed in a tea chest in his living room, with other remains inside an upturned drawer in his bathroom. After meeting in a West End pub, Nilsen offered to show Ockenden the . This act of attempted murder was committed while Nobbs was asleep in a drunken stupor. Nilsen envied Olav Jr.'s popularity. [112] Opening a drain cover at the side of the house, Cattran discovered the drain was packed with a flesh-like substance and numerous small bones of unknown origin. The following morning, both men agreed to live together in a larger residence and Nilsenusing part of the inheritance bequeathed to him by his father[48]immediately resolved to find a larger property. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. The pair stopped at an off licence en route to Nilsen's residence and purchased whisky, rum, and beer, with Ockenden insisting on sharing the bill. On occasions when Nilsen disinterred victims from beneath the floorboards, he noted that the bodies were covered with pupae and infested with maggots; some victims' heads had maggots crawling out of eye sockets and mouths. Gallwey further added that someone suffering from these episodic breakdowns is most likely to disintegrate under circumstances of social isolation. [n 3], Initially, Nilsen experienced domestic contentment with Gallichan, but within a year of their moving to Melrose Avenue, the superficial relationship between the two men began to show signs of strain. In the five years between 1978 to 1983, Dennis Nilsen brought home fifteen young men with him from London bars. Cattran reported his suspicions to his supervisor, Gary Wheeler. Nilsen passed the entrance examinations and received official notification he was to enlist for nine years' service in September 1961, commencing his training with the Army Catering Corps at St. Omer Barracks in Aldershot, Hampshire. [133], On 11 February 1983, Nilsen was officially charged with the murder of Stephen Sinclair. The second psychiatrist to testify for the defence, Patrick Gallwey, diagnosed Nilsen with a "borderline, false-self as if pseudo-normal, narcissistic personality disorder",[154] with occasional outbreaks of schizoid disturbances that Nilsen managed most of the time to keep at bay; Gallwey stated that, in episodic breakdowns, Nilsen became predominantly schizoidacting in an impulsive, violent and sudden manner. Nilsen served at these barracks for one year before being transferred with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders to Cyprus in 1969. Daily Star. He was not charged with this murder as the Crown Prosecution Service decided that a prosecution would not be in the public interest, and would not contribute to his current sentence. He respected his parents' efforts to provide and care for their children, but began to resent the fact that his family was poorer than most of his peers, with his mother and stepfather making no effort to better their lifestyles; thus, Nilsen seldom invited his friends to the family home. DCI Jay then recounted the circumstances of Nilsen's arrest and his "calm, matter-of-fact" confessions, before reading to the court several statements volunteered by Nilsen following his arrest. [98] There, both Nilsen and Howlett drank as they watched a film, before Howlett walked into Nilsen's front room and fell asleep in his bed (which was located in the front room at this time). [82] Other dissected remainsminus the internal organswere returned beneath the floorboards or placed upon a bonfire he had constructed in the garden. [111] The following day, he refused to allow an acquaintance to enter his property, the reason being he had begun to dismember Sinclair's body on the floor of his kitchen. Often, he vomited as he dissected the bodies,[85] before wrapping the dismembered limbs inside plastic bags and carrying the remains to the bonfires. I'll tell you everything. I stripped myself naked and carried him into the bathroom and washed the body. He also recalled dragging Ockenden across his floor with the wire wrapped around his neck as he strangled him, before pouring himself half a glass of rum and continuing to listen to music on the headphones with which he had strangled Ockenden. [n 10]. Great Crimes and Trials of the 20th Century, List of prisoners with whole-life tariffs, List of serial killers by number of victims, List of serial killers in the United Kingdom, "Dennis Nilsen: Eight Chilling Facts About the Scottish Serial Killer", "Serial Killer who Murdered 'At Least' 15 Men Dies in Jail", "Netflix to Produce True-crime Documentary Based on Dennis Nilsen's Posthumously Published Autobiography", "Nilsen Describes How he Murdered his First Victim", "Free BMD Entry Information: Ockenden, Kenneth J. There was an interesting segment where when investigating the disappearance of one of his victims, Kenneth Ockenden, they deliberately ignored the possibility that Ken might be gay because he came from a so-called respectable middle class family which apparently meant he had to be straight. [138] With Nilsen's full consent, Moss had fully prepared his defence; five weeks before his trial, Nilsen again dismissed Moss, and opted instead to be represented by Ralph Haeems, upon whose advice Nilsen agreed to plead not guilty by diminished responsibility.[139]. They produced ten children, all registered in the Epsom district. Most read in TV The 23-year-old was. All the victims' personal possessions were destroyed following the ritual of bathing their bodies in an effort to obliterate their identity prior to their murder and their now becoming what Nilsen described as a "prop" in his fantasies. After caressing the sleeping youth, Nilsen decided Holmes was to "stay with me over the New Year whether he wanted to or not". Noting conflicting details in accounts given by both men, police had dismissed the incident as a lovers' quarrel. Kenneth Ockenden 23-year-old Canadian student Kenneth Ockenden was killed on December 3, 1979. [31] In Nilsen's most vividly recalled fantasy, a slender, attractive young blond soldier who had been recently killed in battle is dominated by a faceless "dirty, grey-haired old man" who washed this body before engaging in intercourse with the spreadeagled corpse. The second bag contained a human skull almost completely devoid of flesh, a severed head, and a torso with arms attached, but hands missing. This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Ockenden research. The body was usually dressed in socks and underpants, before Nilsen draped the victims around him as he talked to the corpse. [132] This, he stated, was his symbolic gesture of saying goodbye to his victims. [7] He later described this stage of his childhood as one of contentment,[8] and his grandfather being his "great hero and protector", adding that whenever his grandfather (who was a fisherman) was at sea, "Life would be empty [for me] until he returned. On approximately four occasions over the following fortnight, Nilsen disinterred Ockenden's body from beneath his floorboards and seated the body upon his armchair alongside him as he himself watched television and drank alcohol. For two days, Duffey's body was stowed in a cupboard,[77] before Nilsen noted signs of bloating; therefore, "he went straight under the floorboards".[78]. He twice masturbated over the body, before awaiting the passing of rigor mortis to enable him to stow the corpse beneath his floorboards. Prior to moving into Melrose Avenue, Nilsen negotiated a deal with the landlord whereby he and Gallichan had exclusive use of the garden at the rear of the property. Family tree. Albert Ockenden was born in 1897 (GRO reference Mar 1897 Epsom 2a 15) to George Edmund and Elizabeth Harriet Ockenden (nee Dudley). [82] He placed deodorants beneath the floorboards and sprayed insecticide about the flat twice daily, but the odour of decay and the presence of flies remained. [22] He displayed a flair for history and art, but shunned sports. [n 9], Cattran contacted the Daily Mirror on 10 February,[122] informing the newspaper of the ongoing search for human remains at Cranley Gardens, leading the newspaper to break the story and spark intense national media interest. Kenneth Ockenden was a Canadian student visiting relatives in Britain when he encountered Dennis Nilsen. After plying him with alcohol,[102] Nilsen invited Stottor to his flat, assuring his guest he had no intention of sexual activity. The body was repeatedly kissed, complimented and caressed by Nilsen, both before and after he had masturbated while sitting upon the stomach of the corpse. In mid-1981, Nilsen's landlord decided to renovate 195 Melrose Avenue,[93] and asked Nilsen to vacate the property. Ockenden was one of the three victims who had fixed address at the time of his death as others were mainly runaways, homeless or sex workers.
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