From the Archives of Serial Killers… It Began with Plumbing Problems

Between 1978 and 1983, Dennis Andrew Nilson (A.K.A. Muswell Hill Murderer or Kindly Killer) murdered at least 15 men and boys in London. Most of his victims were homeless men, students, or bar patrons. He was considered to be the British version of Jeffrey Dahmer.

Nilson was eventually caught after his disposal of dismembered human parts blocked his household drains in 1983; the drain cleaning company found that the drains were congested with human flesh and immediately contacted the police.

Nilson was cooperative and showed detectives bagged pieces of human reamains, the large sauce pan he used for boiling heads, and confessed to the gruesome murders of 15 men and boys. He explained how he invited his victims home for drinks and then usually strangled them with a neck tie, often preserving the bodies for days and even skteching them.

Nilson came from a broken home where his father was an alcholic and mother was extremely firm with displine. He gave authorities a well thought out excuse for his killing behavior due to his first traumatic experience that shaped his life. According to his accounts, when he was a small child his beloved grandfather died of a heart attack. His strick Roman Catholic mother insisted that Nilson view his grandfather’s body and lectured him about “impurieties of the flesh”.

Nilson had been enlisted in Brtish Army where he worked as a cook. Afterward, he later took the civil service test and was actually a police officer for eight months. From 1974, Nilsen worked as a civil servant in a jobcentre in London’s Kentish Town. He is now serving a life sentence for murder.