Remembering the victims

Why were warnings about serial killer Dennis Nilsen ignored?

- HANNAH DAVIES, IAN MACEWAN

NEW CRIME

The Nilsen Files Monday, BBC2 HD, 9pm

In February 1983, body parts were found blocking the drains of an attic flat in Muswell Hill, north London. The discovery sparked one of the country’s biggest ever murder investigations, with the flat’s resident, Dennis Nilsen, later confessing to killing up to 16 young men and boys in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Nilsen, who was the subject of the recent ITV drama Des, starring David Tennant, achieved global notoriety for his brutal crimes. But his victims’ stories have remained largely forgotten – until now.