Case 144

The Muswell Hill Murderer

*** Content Warning: necrophilia, LGBTQ+ victims ***

[Part 1 of 3]

When specialty plumbers arrived to inspect the drains at a property in the north London suburb of Muswell Hill in early February 1983, it seemed like any regular job. Upon closer inspection, they were baffled by the presence of the “porridge-like substance” that appeared to be clogging the drains underneath the house.

Residents gathered around, with one tenant remarking that the mysterious matter looked like fried chicken. The truth of its origin was much worse.

CREDITS

Casefile Presents

EPISODE:

Research – Holly Boyd

Writing – Elsha McGill

Creative direction – Milly Raso

Narration – Anonymous Host

MUSIC:

‘Flatline intro’ and ‘Come play with me’ intro and outro – www.dl-sounds.com

Audio production – Mike Migas

Scoring – Mike Migas and Andrew Joslyn

OTHER:

Logo and website design – Paulina Szymanska

PREMIUM

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RESOURCES

DOCUMENTARIES

Murders That Shocked the Nation: John Christie and 10 Rillington Place

BOOKS

Killing for Company: The Case of Dennis Nilsen – by Brian Masters

Dennis Nilsen: Conversations with Britain’s Most Evil Serial Killer – by Russell Coffey

Murder in Mind: Dennis Nilsen – by Raj Persaud, Brian Masters, and Colin Wilson

The Black Museum: New Scotland Yard – by Bill Waddell

London: from Plunk to Blair (a selection of essays): Gay London – by Mark W Turner (from page 50)

VIDEOS

Interview with Dennis Nilsen (shown in the programme “Murder In Mind”, Carlton TV, 1993) conducted by Paul Britton (October 1992)

Killing For Company BBC 2 1991 Dennis Nilsen Documentary with Brian Masters

Real Crime: A mind to murder: Dennis Nilsen (S03E04) 2003 (Full Documentary)

Born to Kill? Dennis Nilsen: The Kindly Killer – Documentary 2005, Season 3, Episode 5

Dennis Nilsen Home Movie Clips (mid-1970s)

Britain’s Most Evil Killers, “Dennis Nilsen” (Season 1, Episode 8), 21 April 2017

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Brittain, R. P. (1970). The Sadistic Murderer. Medicine, Science and the Law, 10(4), 198–207.

MacCulloch, M. J., Snowden, P. R., Wood, P. J. W. and Mills, H. E. (1983) ‘Sadistic Fantasy, Sadistic Behaviour and Offending’. British Journal of Psychiatry 143: 20–9.

MacCulloch M, Gray, N & Watt, A (2000) Brittain’s Sadistic Murderer Syndrome reconsidered: an associative account of the aetiology of sadistic sexual fantasy, The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry, 11:2, 401-418.

ARTICLES

Dennis Nilsen: I have no tears for these victims – The Guardian (26 October 1983)

Defence psychiatrist probes Nilsen’s mind and motives – The Guardian (27 October 1983)

The nameless disorder of Dennis Nilsen – The Guardian (28 October 1983)

“Killings had no normal motive” – Psychiatrist – The Guardian (29 October 1983)

Psychiatrist backs Crown Case that Nilsen is not mentally ill – The Guardian (1 November 1983)

Crown press for murder verdict as Nilsen trial comes to its end – The Guardian (2 November 1983)

Nilsen convicted of murder and jailed for life – The Guardian (5 November 1983)

‘Living nightmare’ baffled by his own success – The Guardian (November 5 1983) – Accessed via Newspapers.com

Marketing horror at Nilsen’s flat – The Guardian (28 November 1983)

Nilsen TV interview banned – The Independent (20 January 1993)

Nilsen interview broadcast after appeal is rejected – The Independent (27 January 1993)

Interview: Empathy for the devil: Brian Masters… – The Independent (31 January 1993)

Killer’s book challenge can proceed – BBC News (25 October 2001)

Woman living in Dublin told her brother was first victim of killer – The Irish Times (13 January 2006)

Dennis Nilsen’s extraordinary letter – Daily Mail (9 November 2006)

Met Police’s infamous Black Museum of chilling evidence could become a tourist attraction – The Mirror (7 August 2013)

‘This man is a monster, he should not be allowed a voice’: Murder victim’s brother makes desperate plea to stop Dennis Nilsen’s memoirs being published – Daily Mail (10 November 2013)

Buyer found for serial killer Dennis Nilsen’s London flat as its gruesome history cuts price to £300k – The Mirror (6 June 2015)

Dennis Nilsen: ‘Why I will never fight for my freedom’ – The Press and Journal (16 November 2016)

Why I wrote to serial killer Dennis Nilsen…And see his letters for the first time – The Press and Journal (18 November 2016)

Serial killer Dennis Nilsen dies in prison aged 72 – The Guardian (13 May 2018)

Fiend’s boiling in hell: Dennis Nilsen dead at 72… dies after crippling gut pains in prison – The Scottish Sun (12 May 2018)

Made a killing: We bought Dennis Nilsen’s murder home… – The Scottish Sun (17 May 2018)

The secret funeral and cremation of north-east killer Dennis Nilsen cost the taxpayer £3,300 – The Press and Journal (2 July 2018)

Dennis Nilsen: Serial killer died in ‘excruciating pain’ – The BBC (23 October 2019)

Dennis Nilsen: Serial killer ‘lay dying in his own filth’ in prison cell inquest hears – The Independent (24 October 2019)

Serial Killer Dennis Nilsen thought he was a sick genius…but he was a deluded psychopath and his letters still make my blood run cold (Russ Coffey) – Daily Mail (14 May 2018)

ITV commissions three-part drama, Des – with David Tennant as Dennis Nilsen – ITV (22 November 2019)

ITV series about killer Dennis Nilsen angers victims families – The Daily Mail (28 December 2019)

MAGAZINES

Memoirs of a Serial Killer – Sunday Time Magazine Cover Story (Crosseyed Cat; Russ Coffey) (7 September 2003)

QX Magazine Feature – West End Boys

A timeline of LGBTQ communities in the UK

BLOGS

Dennis Nilsen’s Autobiography – Blog (has a short extract from Nilsen’s unpublished manuscript Nilsen’s History of a Drowning Boy, regarding the death of his grandfather)

Shane Levene

“Hero” Serial Killers – Psychology Today (26 June 2016)

WEBSITES

Legislation.gov.uk

Pound Sterling Live

Zoopla

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