Dennis Nilsen: Psycho killer who boiled victims' heads murdered many more who were never identified, says cop
Psycho-killer Dennis Nilsen’s body count might have been more than the victims who were identified, says Hywel Jones who dug up the bodies of his victims. The 59-year-old detective broke his silence on the topic after watching the serial killer portrayed by David Tennant in the disturbing hit drama 'Des'.
Jones, who's now a retired cop, said "Nilsen's victims were sadly missed by less people. They were 'down and outs'. The Met Police didn't want to properly identify these victims because it would expose the lack of resources they pumped into missing persons’ cases. They could identify some of the bodies with modern technology as they still have the bones, but the victim's families have tragically never been told. I was relieved to see Nilsen go down for murder but he should have got done for more than he did. There are more victims."
Nilsen slaughtered at least 12 young men and boys in London before his arrest in 1983. The dark and riveting ITV1 drama is almost like Netflix's 'Mindhunter' as we see the titular 'Des' nonchalantly confessing how he boiled the heads of his victims, dismembered them and even engaged in necrophilia.
Jones' real-life encounter with Des's crimes was however more chilling as The Sun quotes him saying "We were armed with a garden shovel and a hosepipe. I remember the cold water would make your hands freezing from picking through the bits. When we found a big bone like a bit of back, leg or arm, we would all laugh and say 'that was a big one' as we used to see who could find the biggest bit of bone. It was all part of the banter to help us get through what we were actually doing. We didn't actually know the victims at that point so didn't show any emotions to them which helped."
Speaking about the most horrifying encounter with the remains that were left, Jones said: "The worst thing I found was a small decomposing foot inside a sock. I remember that clearly. There were no eyes, hearts, lungs or other organs. It was basically all bones of different shapes and sizes from different fragments of the body with bits of clothing which hadn't burnt away in the bonfires. But none of it ever affected me. I was a detective for most of my working life and I can tell people I dug up Dennis Nilsen's garden. That's pretty special."
After Nilsen was convicted of murder, a photo of the 'dig team' was presented to Jones by the Detective Superintendent Norman Briers. The back of the photo was signed "Thanks for working your fingers to the bone!"
Jones, a married father of two, is from Hillingdon, North West London. He now works as a process server following his 25-year service in the force. He told the outlet "After a day's work, we used to go out for a drink to find our sense of humor again, and take it off our minds. That's how we would cope. Whether you were digging for bones or dealing with a child who had been shot — you just got on with the job at hand and cracked on. In my opinion Nilsen got bored of killing and wanted to be found for the fame, so he blocked his drains with the bodies instead of burying them."