1983: Fifty Notebooks of Confession: the Trial of Dennis Nilsen Begins
Dennis Nilsen’s trial opened on this day in 1983, more than a year after police finally traced human remains blocking the drains outside his London home. He had preyed on homeless and vulnerable men he met in pubs, luring them back to his flat before killing them, and once arrested he confessed with chilling thoroughness, filling fifty notebooks with the details of his crimes.
Charged with killing 15 men, Nilsen entered a plea of not guilty by reason of diminished responsibility as proceedings began, arguing that a disturbed mental state, not deliberate will, lay behind the killings.
