I thought of Nilsen's victims as I scattered his ashes

Remains in his hometown's river

- PHIL CARDY

IT looked like any ordinary way of saying a final farewell.

There was a moment of contemplation in a secluded spot before the sombre scattering of a person's ashes.

But, in fact, the send-off was for one of Britain's vilest serial killers.

The remains of Dennis Nilsen were being scattered, near the town where he grew up.

The unsettling scene played out at the River Philorth, near Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, with the murderer's ashes scattered by his friend of nearly 30 years, Mark Austin.

Retired business owner Mark said Nilsen's victims were at the front and centre of his mind throughout the planning of his farewell act. He insisted: "I didn't want to upset anyone.

"I fully appreciate people might find this odd. But who am I to say who does and does not deserve this sort of final farewell?"

Nilsen is known to have murdered at least 12 young men and boys between 1978 and 1983.

He would befriend them in pubs and bars before luring his victims back to his flat, where he would strangle them.