Read Online Dead Men Walking (True Crime) by Bill Wallace - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Bill Wallace
Tags: nonfiction
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beside him on the couch to watch television. Afterwards, he would clean it up, and put it back under the floorboards with a loving ‘Goodnight’.
Martin Duffey, a sixteen-year-old trainee butcher, followed five months later, his corpse spending a fortnight in the cupboard before disappearing under the floorboards. Then Nilsen strangled a twenty-six-year-old Scottish man, Billy Sutherland, with his bare hands. Nilsen admits to remembering nothing of killing Sutherland, explaining that when he killed he entered a trance of some kind.
His next seven victims’ names are all unknown. There was a Mexican or Filipino, a down-and-out, picked up in a doorway, and a further five who were killed between late 1980 and late 1981. They were mostly homeless or itinerant young men who were missed by no one. His eighth victim lay under his floorboards for almost a year, while the ninth and tenth victims were young Scottish men he picked up in Soho pubs. The eleventh victim was a young skinhead with a distinctive tattoo – a dotted line around his neck with the words ‘Cut Here’.
The police were again informed of Dennis Nilsen’s activity after a Scottish barman he picked up fought him off and fled the flat. Once again, however, they refused to get involved, putting it down to a homosexual contretemps.
Martyn Barlow was a twenty-four-year-old with learning difficulties whom Nilsen found outside his building. The man was in such a bad condition, very weak from epilepsy, that Nilsen took him to hospital. When he was released on 18 September 1981, he went back to Nilsen’s flat to thank him for helping him. Nilsen responded by strangling him after they had eaten a meal together. He thought Barlow was a bit of a nuisance and he just fitted into the cabinet under the kitchen sink.
By now, of course, the question of hygiene was becoming pressing. There was a terrible smell at 125 Melrose Avenue which the neighbours began to complain about. Inside his flat, flies were hatching out in the putrefying flesh of the bodies he had stuffed into cupboards and under the floorboards. He began to carve the corpses up, undressing to his underpants to do so. The heads were boiled in his large cooking pot, stripping the flesh off the skull; he knew about butchery from his time as an army cook. He stashed body parts all over the garden.
In October 1981, having thoroughly cleaned out the old flat and removed the body parts from the garden and burned or buried them, he moved to Cranley Gardens and celebrated not long after, on 25 October, by taking a gay student, Paul Nobbs back to his new flat where they both got drunk and went to bed together. When Nobbs awoke the next morning, he discovered bruises around his neck. He was informed at University College Hospital that it appeared that someone had tried to strangle him. Had Nilsen exercised restraint for once in his life?
When John Howlett came back to his flat with him in March 1982, Nilsen, for once, wanted him to leave, not enjoying his company. He strangled him after an almighty struggle and having been forced to hit him on the skull to subdue him. He was then drowned and hidden in a cupboard. Later, he dissected the body, disposing of the flesh down the toilet and the bones in the dustbin.
Nilsen has no memory of killing Archibald Graham Allan. He does remember leaving him dead in the bath for three days, however, before carving up his body.
His final victim was twenty-year-old drug addict, Steven Sinclair, whom he met in Leicester Square. After strangling Sinclair with a piece of string, he bathed him as usual before carefully putting him to bed. He surrounded the bed with mirrors, took his clothes off and lay beside the dead body, looking at himself.
At his trial which began on 24 October 1983, Nilsen was charged with six murders and two attempted murders, although he had happily confessed to fifteen when arrested. At his trial he enjoyed being the focus of attention and although defence
Martin Duffey, a sixteen-year-old trainee butcher, followed five months later, his corpse spending a fortnight in the cupboard before disappearing under the floorboards. Then Nilsen strangled a twenty-six-year-old Scottish man, Billy Sutherland, with his bare hands. Nilsen admits to remembering nothing of killing Sutherland, explaining that when he killed he entered a trance of some kind.
His next seven victims’ names are all unknown. There was a Mexican or Filipino, a down-and-out, picked up in a doorway, and a further five who were killed between late 1980 and late 1981. They were mostly homeless or itinerant young men who were missed by no one. His eighth victim lay under his floorboards for almost a year, while the ninth and tenth victims were young Scottish men he picked up in Soho pubs. The eleventh victim was a young skinhead with a distinctive tattoo – a dotted line around his neck with the words ‘Cut Here’.
The police were again informed of Dennis Nilsen’s activity after a Scottish barman he picked up fought him off and fled the flat. Once again, however, they refused to get involved, putting it down to a homosexual contretemps.
Martyn Barlow was a twenty-four-year-old with learning difficulties whom Nilsen found outside his building. The man was in such a bad condition, very weak from epilepsy, that Nilsen took him to hospital. When he was released on 18 September 1981, he went back to Nilsen’s flat to thank him for helping him. Nilsen responded by strangling him after they had eaten a meal together. He thought Barlow was a bit of a nuisance and he just fitted into the cabinet under the kitchen sink.
By now, of course, the question of hygiene was becoming pressing. There was a terrible smell at 125 Melrose Avenue which the neighbours began to complain about. Inside his flat, flies were hatching out in the putrefying flesh of the bodies he had stuffed into cupboards and under the floorboards. He began to carve the corpses up, undressing to his underpants to do so. The heads were boiled in his large cooking pot, stripping the flesh off the skull; he knew about butchery from his time as an army cook. He stashed body parts all over the garden.
In October 1981, having thoroughly cleaned out the old flat and removed the body parts from the garden and burned or buried them, he moved to Cranley Gardens and celebrated not long after, on 25 October, by taking a gay student, Paul Nobbs back to his new flat where they both got drunk and went to bed together. When Nobbs awoke the next morning, he discovered bruises around his neck. He was informed at University College Hospital that it appeared that someone had tried to strangle him. Had Nilsen exercised restraint for once in his life?
When John Howlett came back to his flat with him in March 1982, Nilsen, for once, wanted him to leave, not enjoying his company. He strangled him after an almighty struggle and having been forced to hit him on the skull to subdue him. He was then drowned and hidden in a cupboard. Later, he dissected the body, disposing of the flesh down the toilet and the bones in the dustbin.
Nilsen has no memory of killing Archibald Graham Allan. He does remember leaving him dead in the bath for three days, however, before carving up his body.
His final victim was twenty-year-old drug addict, Steven Sinclair, whom he met in Leicester Square. After strangling Sinclair with a piece of string, he bathed him as usual before carefully putting him to bed. He surrounded the bed with mirrors, took his clothes off and lay beside the dead body, looking at himself.
At his trial which began on 24 October 1983, Nilsen was charged with six murders and two attempted murders, although he had happily confessed to fifteen when arrested. At his trial he enjoyed being the focus of attention and although defence
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