Detective who dug up Dennis Nilsen’s victims believes psycho killed more people who have never been identified
THE detective who dug up Dennis Nilsen’s victims believes the psycho killed more people who have never been identified.
Hywel Jones, 59, spoke out after watching David Tennant portray the serial killer in chilling TV hit drama Des.
The 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.”
ITV1’s dark three-part drama followed the 1983 arrest of evil murderer Nilsen, who slaughtered at least 12 young men and boys in London.
The show depicted re-enactments of ‘Des’ nonchalantly confessing to boiling their heads, dismembering them, and engaging in necrophilia.
‘DECOMPOSING FOOT’
He said: “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.
“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.”
Mr Jones is in a photo of the ‘dig team’ presented to him by Detective Superintendent Norman Briers after Nilsen was convicted of murder.
He signed the back: “Thanks for working your fingers to the bone!”
Married father of two Mr Jones, of Hillingdon, North West London, now works as a process server after leaving the force after 25 years.
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He said: “After a day’s work, we used to go out for a drink to find our sense of humour 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.”
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