When No One Connected the Dots: 12 Lives Lost to Dennis Nilsen

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Born in Scotland in 1945, Nilsen's path to becoming one of Britain's most prolific murderers began with childhood trauma. Forced to view his beloved grandfather's corpse at just six years old, he grew increasingly isolated as his mother remarried and started a new family. His military service as an army cook and brief police training provided the perfect storm of skills that would later facilitate his crimes. Between 1978 and 1983, Nilsen murdered at least 12 men, primarily  targeting vulnerable individuals—homeless youth, sex workers, and unemployed men looking for companionship.

The most chilling aspect of Nilsen's case wasn't just the murders themselves, but how close authorities came to stopping him multiple times. Several victims escaped his strangulation attempts and reported the incidents, yet no connections were made between these reports. Neighbors complained about the smell from his apartment, but accepted his excuses about structural problems. When drains became blocked with human remains in February 1983, Nilsen calmly confessed when confronted, even directing police to body parts stored around his home. His emotionless cooperation during the investigation and trial revealed a disturbed mind that the judge described as "evil without being abnormal." Sentenced to life imprisonment, Nilsen died in prison in 2018, leaving behind crucial lessons about protecting vulnerable populations and connecting the dots between seemingly isolated incidents. What systems failed these victims, and how can we ensure history doesn't repeat itself? Share your thoughts on this disturbing case that reminds us why vigilance and compassion must always accompany reason.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
These are real crimes , real people and real
consequences.
The details ahead are graphicand unsettling.
Listener discretion is stronglyadvised.
This is the end of reason.
I was on Reddit today and cameacross a part title that I found

(00:22):
interesting.
Now, it was interesting becausethey are comparing someone to
Jeffrey Dahmer, calling him theBritish Jeffrey Dahmer.
The person being compared isDennis Nilsen.
Now, up to this point I had noidea this was a case or who
Dennis Nilsen was, but thecomparison to Dahmer interested
me enough to look into it.
So I did, and this is what Ifound.

(00:44):
Scotland, 1978.
A man named Dennis Nilsen takeshis first life.
Over the next five years hewill lure young men into his
home and they will never leave.
By the time police catch him in1983, nilsen has confessed to
12 murders, each followed bydismemberment, but for something

(01:06):
I didn't expect.
Several victims had escapedbefore, but their stories were
never connected, and thatmistake allowed one of Britain's
most prolific killers to keepgoing.
Now, this was the late 70s toearly 80s, and police
investigation techniques werenot as advanced as they are now,
and the technology at theirdisposal was not the best.

(01:29):
I get that, but the fact thatthese cases did not get
connected for five years iscrazy to me, like nobody thought
to look into the similaritiesbetween multiple different
reports to find if anythingmatches or see if anything
points to a certain directionthat you can follow.
I don't know, but let's look atthe details of the case.

(01:51):
November 23rd 1945.
Dennis Nilsen was born in thequiet fishing town of
Fraserburgh, scotland.
His early life was marked bytension.
His parents' troubled marriageled him, his mother and siblings
to live with his maternalgrandfather, a man he adored.
But when Dennis was just sixyears old, that fragile world

(02:15):
was shattered.
His beloved grandfather diedsuddenly.
At the funeral, dennis wasforced to confront the lifeless
body of the man he loved most.
That haunting moment, etcheddeep into his memory, would
become the dark seed from whichhis later troubled behaviour
would grow.
His mother remarried and hadfour more children, leaving

(02:38):
Nilsen feeling increasinglywithdrawn and isolated.
Although he was aware of hishomosexual attractions, he
claimed to have no sexualexperiences during his
adolescence.
At 16, he enlisted in the armyand trained as a cook in the
army catering corps.
It was there that he learnedbutchering skills which would

(02:59):
later play a big role in hiscrimes.
After leaving the army in 1972,nilsen began police training.
During this time he developed adisturbing fascination with
morgues and autopsies.
Despite the advantages hispolice career could have given
him to explore these morbidinterests, he resigned and
became a recruitment interviewer.

(03:19):
In 1973, Nilsen had his firstofficial encounter with the
police.
In 1973, nilsson had his firstofficial encounter with the
police.
David Painter, a young man hehad met through work, accused
Nilsson of secretly takingphotographs of him while he was
asleep.
The confrontation left Painterso shaken he required
hospitalisation.
Nilsson was questioned butultimately released without any

(03:41):
charges.
In 1975, he took upcohabitation with David
Gallachan in a garden apartmentsituated at 195 Melrose Avenue
in North London, althoughGallachan denied that they had a
homosexual relationship.
This lasted two years, and whenGallachan left, nilsen's life
began a downward spiral intoalcohol and loneliness, which

(04:04):
culminated in his first murder18 months later.
Now there is a lot here to lookat.
First, being forced to look atsomeone you love in a casket as
a child is fucked up.
A child shouldn't be put into aposition like that.
You have to help themunderstand.
This is a part of life a sad,dramatic, fucked part, but a

(04:25):
part of it all the same.
Second, isolation andloneliness as a child is no joke
.
That sticks with you inadulthood.
I'm not sure how the motherdidn't notice, or if she did
notice, you didn't care, andthat's the case.
That's fucked parenting.
And third okay, now we aregetting to some of the darker
shit.
Using the skills he learnedfrom the army and police academy

(04:48):
to hurt other people isexpected, but wrong.
Don't use something you weretaught to help people to hurt
them.
And by wrong I mean it feelslike a dirty move or low blow,
if you know what I mean.
As for the run-in with thepolice, it seems like a lazy
investigation to get off withoutcharges.
Now, this opinion is beinginformed with the knowledge of
what happens later.

(05:09):
But even with setting thataside for now, if someone's in
the hospital, I think you cangive a little more of a thorough
look when investigating.
But now let's look at the firstvictims.
Dennis Nilsen's dark urges grewmore disturbing with each
encounter.
After a series of lonely andunfulfilling sexual encounters,
he met his first victim onDecember 29, 1978, at a pub,

(05:35):
inviting the young man home ashe had before.
Nielsen's fear of abandonmentoverwhelmed him.
The next morning he strangledthe man with a tie, drowned him
in a bucket of water and thencarried the body to his bathroom
to wash it.
He placed the corpse back inbed later, describing it as
beautiful.

(05:55):
He even attempted to have sexwith the body failing, before
spending the night beside it.
For seven months the bodystayed hidden beneath his
floorboards before he burned theremains in his garden
floorboards.
Before he burned the remains inhis garden In October 1979,
nilsen had a close call when ayoung student accused him of
trying to strangle him during abondage session, but no charges

(06:18):
were pressed.
His second victim, canadiantourist Kenneth Ockenden, was
met at a pub in December 1979.
After a day out, nilsen againstrangled him, cleaned the body,
shared his bed overnight, tookphotos and spoke to the corpse
as if it were alive beforehiding it under the floorboards.

(06:39):
Nilsen continued killing overthe next few years, including a
homeless teenager, a prostituteand an orphan with learning
disabilities.
By 1981, he had killed 12 men,only four of whom could be
identified, most of themvulnerable, homeless or
unemployed.
He described entering a killingtrance, but claimed to have

(07:01):
freed seven men instead ofkilling them.
Still, most of his victims didnot survive.
As bodies accumulated in hisapartment, nilsen was forced to
hide them under the kitchen sinkand spray his rooms twice daily
to combat the smell and flies.
When neighbours complained, heblamed structural problems in

(07:22):
the building.
To dispose of the bodies,nilsen dismembered them on his
kitchen floor, sometimes boilingskulls to remove flesh and
flushing small remains down thetoilet.
He buried limbs in his gardenand shed and burned many remains
in bonfires, going so far as tokeep fires burning all day
without arousing suspicion.
In 1982, hoping to stop hisurges, nilsen moved to a

(07:46):
top-floor apartment with nogarden or floorboards Yet he
killed three more men there.
Facing new challenges disposingof the bodies, he resorted to
boiling and flushing remainsdown the toilet and bagging
parts for disposal.
In early 1983, a drain blockageled a technician to discover
human remains in the apartment'spipes.

(08:07):
Police were called and onFebruary 9th Detective Chief
Inspector Jay confronted Nilsen.
Faced with the evidence andfoul odour, nilsen calmly
confessed, revealing bags ofbody parts stored around his
home.
He admitted to killing 15 youngmen and attempting to murder
seven others.
Nilsen showed no remorse,willingly guiding police to

(08:31):
disposal sites, including hisprevious residence.
Held at Brixton Prison pendingtrial, nilsen wrote over 50
notebooks recounting hismemories and even sketched
disturbing illustrations of hiscrimes.
He appeared ambivalent abouthis fate, firing and rehiring
his legal counsel multiple times.
His trial began in October 1983, charged with six counts of

(08:56):
murder and two of attemptedmurder.
Nielsen pleaded not guilty,claiming diminished
responsibility due to mentalillness.
The prosecution relied heavilyon his confessions and the
testimony of three survivors whoescaped strangulation attempts.
Despite attempts to discreditthe survivors, their accounts

(09:17):
seriously damaged.
The defence Physical evidenceincluded gruesome photos, the
chopping board used fordissection and the cooking pot
used to boil body parts nowdisplayed at Scotland Yard's
Black Museum.
The defence presentedpsychiatrists who described
Nilsen's troubled childhood andmental disorders, but their

(09:37):
complex arguments failed toconvince the jury.
The prosecution's psychiatristcountered that Nilsen was
manipulative and fully aware ofhis actions.
In summing up, the judge toldthe jury that a mind could be
evil without being abnormal.
The jury found Nilsen guilty onall counts, sentencing him to
life imprisonment with a minimumof 25 years before parole

(10:00):
eligibility.
Dennis Nilsen died in prison in2018, leaving behind one of
Britain's most chilling criminallegacies.
Dennis Nielsen's story is achilling reminder of how
darkness can hide behind themost ordinary faces.
His crimes shocked a nation,but they also exposed tragic

(10:21):
failures in society, in thesystems meant to protect the
vulnerable and in recognisingwarning signs before it was too
late.
Though Nielsen died in prisonin 2018, the echoes of his
victims' lives and the pain theyendured remain with us.
Their stories demand that welisten, remember and strive to

(10:43):
protect those most at risk.
If there's one thing to takeaway from this grim tale, it's
this Behind every statistic,every headline, there are real
people, each deserving ofdignity, safety and justice.
It's up to us to learn to watchand to act so history does not
repeat itself.
Thank you for listening to theEnd of Reason.

(11:05):
Stay vigilant, staycompassionate and never let go
of reason.