True crime fans will have the opportunity to “discover the mind” of Fraserburgh serial killer Dennis Nilsen in a new Netflix documentary.
Over 250 hours of private recordings from Dennis Nilsen’s cell will be heard for the first time in Netlfix’s upcoming documentary Memories Of A Murderer: The Nilsen Tapes.
Due to premier on August 18, the documentary will explore how Nilsen was able to kill more than a dozen young men in the 1970s and 1980s, disposing of their bodies under the floorboards of his own home.
Viewers will unravel the truth behind how Nilsen lured young men back to his flat through his own personal archive of tapes as well as interviews with police, journalists, survivors and bereaved families.
Interest in the Aberdeenshire-born killer rose to prominence when ‘Des’, starring Doctor Who actor David Tennant previously broke viewing records for ITV, becoming the broadcaster’s biggest drama launch of the 2020.
Receiving praise for his performance, Tenant played Nilsen in the dramatised story of the Muswell Hill Murderer.
The series was told from the perspective of Nilsen, who died in prison in 2018 at the age of 72.
Nilsen’s crimes
The murderer killed as many as 15 young men – many of which were homeless homosexuals – by strangling them.
Arrested at the age of 37 inside his north London home, his crimes were only discovered when a drain outside his Muswell Hull home became blocked by human remains he had tried to flush away.
He was jailed for life in 1983, with a recommendation that he serves a minimum of 25 years, for six counts of murder and two of attempted murder.
Death and confessions ‘beyond the grave’
Nilsen later died at the age of 72 inside HMP Full Sutton.
In 2016, Nilsen revealed in a series of letters to The Press and Journal why he never challenged or appealed his sentence.
He wrote: “I will not lodge any appeal for release from prison as I owe it to my victims and to justice to serve out whatever time has been allocated to me.
“I have never even thought about lodging an appeal against conviction or sentence and I have always felt this way since day one and nothing has changed in this.”
He also confessed to more murders from “beyond the grave” in a book released earlier this year, which was written based on notes he documented while serving his time in the high security prison.
Memories of a Murderer: The Nilsen Tapes launches Wednesday 18 August on Netflix.