British serial killer Dennis Nilsen is the subject of new ITV drama series Des, starring David Tennant.
The series, which airs tonight at 9pm, looks at how the sadistic killer was caught and sent to prison for murdering a number of men in London in the 1970s and 80s.
During his trial at the Old Bailey, Nilsen admitted killing 15 men, but difficulty identifying victims meant he was convicted of six murders and two attempted murders.
Nilsen, who flushed body parts of his victims down the toilet, was sentenced to life in prison for the gruesome murders.
But 34 years into the prison sentence Nilsen died. Here we take a closer look at how and when.
How and when did Dennis Nilsen die?
Dennis Nilsen died in prison at the age of 72 on Saturday, May 12 2018.
The notorious killer was said to have been left in “excruciating stomach pain” when he died in HMP Full Sutton, East Yorkshire.
The murderer was found “laying in his own faeces, steadily deteriorating”, after he suffered an abdominal aortic aneurism, according to the inquest.
He had been taken to hospital with abdominal pains two days before he died.
Nilsen underwent an operation, but later suffered a blood clot.
His medical cause of death was a pulmonary embolism and retroperitoneal haemorrhage, linked to the ruptured aneurysm.
Recording his full verdict, Hull coroner Professor Paul Marks said: “Dennis Andrew Nilsen died of natural causes.”
Nilsen was convicted of six murders and two attempted murders at the Old Bailey in 1983.
They were all young men, most of them homeless homosexuals, who were killed between 1978 and 1983.
The former civil servant killed and dismembered many of his victims’ bodies at two addresses in London.
Des airs on ITV Monday-Wednesday at 9pm
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