A never-seen-before poem that serial killer Dennis Nilsen wrote has been revealed - about condoms, of all things.
The poem forms part of a letter that was sent to a man with whom Nilsen was corresponding from prison.
In the handily-titled 'Condom', he wrote:
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"The amorous
lumber of
thin, necessary, latex.
Stripped from the packet, concealed in one's jacket.
As substantial as
A whiff of pink vapour
Settling on the
Shimmering rum of doubt.
The line between
Fact and fiction.
Before the truth will out."
Make of that what you will, folks.
Those aware of Nilsen's infamous murders might not be surprised to see condoms feature in his poetic subject matter, even if this seems a little tame compared to his widely-known sadistic deviant fantasies.
After killing, he would masturbate in front of the dead bodies, and also engaged in sexual acts with the corpses.
He was corresponding with a Brit who has written letters to politicians and footballers, as well as long-serving lags.
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The man - who has revealed the letters he received for the first time - said: "Nilsen wrote his letters like lectures. He liked to throw in long words, however they didn't always make sense. He came across as arrogant."
Nilsen would also rant about authority and inequality, as well as the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. In the letter with this particular poem, he wrote: "I suppose that, like many other people in society, you believe that the ruling authority is intelligent, wise and cognitively well intentioned.
"Despite the fact that our 'moral betters' have gotten us into two aggressively invasive wars, presided over a fracturing of society (with its inordinate gap between rich and poor), and ruined the financial/economic system of Global proportions?"
Nilsen murdered more than a dozen men between 1978 and 1983 - making him one of Britain's most prolific serial killers.
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The Scottish civil servant would lure victims back to his North London homes, before killing them and carrying out twisted sex acts and strange rituals with their bodies.
He butchered the bodies and flushed them down the drain. This eventually led to him being caught after he complained about drain blockages, and a contractor found flesh and human bones in the plumbing.
Nilsen died in HMP Full Sutton, East Yorkshire, in 2018, after being sentenced to life imprisonment.
The
letters sent by Nilsen were unearthed ahead of the recent ITV miniseries Des, which starred David Tennant as the killer.
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The first episode of the show aired last week, on Monday 14 September, becoming ITV's biggest drama launch of 2020 with 5.9 million people tuning in.
Featured Image Credit: PA