Depraved Dennis Nilsen’s crimes shocked the world.
The Scots sadist murdered at least 12 men between 1978 and 1983, and later admitted performing sex acts on some of their corpses.
As a new podcast chronicles his evil acts, the Record looks back at his crimes.
Born in Fraserburgh, he was dubbed the Muswell Hill Murderer after the North London suburb where he strangled and drowned his victims at two homes.
A drifter and a loner, Nilsen served in the army and police force, as well as the civil service before going on his killing rampage.
His first victim was 14-year-old Stephen Holmes, who he killed on December 30, 1978 after meeting him in the Cricklewood Arms pub.
He buried the teenager under the floorboards at 195 Melrose Avenue, where the body remained for eight months, before he burned the corpse in the garden.
If his victim was unconscious after being strangled, he would then drown them in a bathtub before flushing body parts down the toilet.
The law finally caught up with Nilsen after drains around 23 Cranley Gardens in Muswell Hill, where he moved to next, became blocked.
Plumber Michael Cattran, who was sent out to investigate, discovered body parts and bones were causing the blockage.
When police visited his home to question Nilsen, they were overwhelmed by the smell of rotting flesh, and a carrier bag was found to contain two torsos, as well as shopping bags full of organs.
Horrifying discoveries made in the flat also include a human skull and a severed head, and a torso with arms still attached.
When he was arrested in 1983 he initially admitted to murdering 15 men or boys, who he would usually meet in bars or on public transport.
As he explained his twisted fantasies he told police about how he would make the men he killed appear "even better", washing and dressing the bodies. He said: "The most exciting part of the little conundrum was when I lifted the bodies."
In recordings of his police confessions, he said: "In the end there were two or three bodies under the floorboards. They began to accumulate."
He continued: "Come the summer it go hot and I knew there would be a smell problem. So I knew I was going to have to deal with the smell problem and I thought what would cause the smell. And I came to the conclusion it was the innards, the soft parts of the body, the organs, things like that."
He would also add that he would pull up the floorboards at weekends - something he described as "totally unpleasant" which he would only do when "blinding drunk." He said after hacking up his victims he would then go out into the garden to be sick.
He would describe his murders in the same cold calculating detail he decided to dispose of the bodies.
"You know these black plastic bags you have, bin liners. You slit one of those so it sort of forms a sheet and then you haul the body out onto the floorboards, put it on the sheet and then cut it up."
Nilsen was eventually convicted of six murders but admitted he had killed more. Among his victims were Stephen Holmes, Kenneth Ockenden, Martyn Duffey, William Sutherland and Malcolm Barlow.
One of Nilsen’s stalking grounds was Camden, North London. He was a regular in the Black Cap pub, which was a popular haunt for gay men at the time.
There he would present himself as a shy and friendly figure; a ruse that enabled him to seduce his victims.
Nilsen claimed that he killed for company, enjoying the companionship of the dead men in his flat, and turning his garden into a graveyard when the decomposing bodies became unbearable to live with.
Nilsen died of a blood clot on his lungs in 2018 at HMP Full Sutton. He was cremated in secret.
