"Mass Murder in London": ITN News at Ten as the Muswell Hill Inquiry Began, February 10, 1983

Name: "Mass Murder in London": ITN News at Ten as the Muswell Hill Inquiry Began, February 10, 1983
Uploaded: 2025-03-17T00:00:00Z
Duration: 3 min 46 s
Description: The night after his arrest, before he was named or charged, ITN's News at Ten reported remains found in a Muswell Hill drain, a search at a Cricklewood house, and a man held at Hornsey police station.

The night after his arrest, before he was named or charged, ITN's News at Ten reported remains found in a Muswell Hill drain, a search at a Cricklewood house, and a man held at Hornsey police station.

Subject: Dennis Andrew Nilsen
Recorded: February 10, 1983
Runtime: 3:46

Content warning: Concerns the murders and dismemberment of young men; human remains described ("flesh," "meat in the manhole," "two heads").

The Interview

This is not an interview with Dennis Nilsen. It is a 3-minute-46-second off-air recording of ITN's News at Ten from Thursday, February 10, 1983, the day after Nilsen's arrest, uploaded to YouTube in 2025 by a private individual. It opens with a few seconds of Central Television continuity and the program's headlines, followed by about three minutes of the lead story. Nilsen is not heard and is not named; the report calls him "a former Scots policeman."

Historical Context

On February 8, 1983, a Dyno-Rod plumber called to a blocked drain at 23 Cranley Gardens in Muswell Hill, north London, found what looked like flesh and bone. When he returned the next morning, the drain had been cleared. Police found remains, and on the evening of February 9 Detective Chief Inspector Peter Jay arrested Nilsen, who lived in the attic flat. He was charged on February 11 with the murder of Stephen Sinclair and was convicted at the Old Bailey on November 4, 1983, of six murders and two attempted murders.

Circumstances

The bulletin went out while the man in custody was still unnamed and uncharged. The details it gives, including "up to 16 deaths," came from the first day of the inquiry.

What the Interview Covers

The newsreader reports three dismembered bodies of young men found beneath the Cranley Gardens house, one identified as Stephen Neil Sinclair, 20, and a search at a house in Melrose Avenue, Cricklewood, for traces of another 13 bodies. Reporter Robin White describes the plumber's discovery; a Dyno-Rod worker says what was in the manhole had "mysteriously disappeared" by the next day, and a next-door neighbor describes police searching gardens with torches. White reports that the police were looking for up to 13 more bodies, possibly of "tramps and vagrants from a nearby hostel." Reporter Carol Barnes, outside Hornsey police station, says the man was expected to be charged the next day, had been a policeman for at least a year, had worked as a civil servant for the Manpower Services Commission, and was thought to come from Aberdeen.

What Makes the Recording Significant

It captures the case as it broke, before Nilsen was named, including a Dyno-Rod worker's own account of the vanished remains.

Archival Importance

An off-air copy of a national bulletin, with its continuity and headlines, from the first full day of the inquiry.

Important Caveats

Nilsen is not heard or named. "Up to 16 deaths" reflected early reports from the inquiry; he was convicted of six murders. "A former Scots policeman" means a Scot who had served about a year in London's Metropolitan Police, not a Scottish force. He was born in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, not Aberdeen, and was 37, not "in his late 30s or early 40s." Which Dyno-Rod worker speaks is not established. The upload is an off-air copy, not ITN's own.

Continuity Announcer: Well, that looks a lot of fun, tomorrow night at nine. Now, if you're still confused by economics and you'd like to know a lot more about it, then we have just the program for you later on tonight at 11:15. That's Money Talks. Ten past eleven, Central News. But now, the national news. [00:14 to 00:28: News at Ten title music; no words (second machine pass).]

Newsreader: Mass murder in London: there could be 16 bodies. Sharon to be sacked as Israeli defense minister. The Shergar kidnap: trail moves to Northern Ireland. Church of England Synod vote against unilateralism. The arms the Argentines abandoned are worth 8 million pounds.

Newsreader: Good evening. The police in London are engaged in what could be Britain's biggest mass murder investigation, involving up to 16 deaths. Three dismembered bodies have been found beneath a house at Cranley Gardens in Muswell Hill, North London, and police are now searching a house in Melrose Avenue in Cricklewood, where it's believed traces of another 13 bodies may be found. The three dismembered bodies already found were all of young men. Two heads were found inside the house. One of the men has been identified as Stephen Neil Sinclair, who was 20 and of no fixed address. The police have arrested a former Scots policeman who has worked for the homeless. Robin White reports.

Robin White: The search started here, at a semi-detached house in North London's bedsit land. A plumber had been called out to unblock the pipes after complaints about the smell. Inside, he found what looked like meat. Then, overnight, it vanished.

Dyno-Rod Worker: We rang the police from the house the next day, after the, um, the [unclear: "mass" / "mess"] had mysteriously disappeared from the manhole.

Interviewer: So on Tuesday night there was a lot of flesh, a lot of meat in the manhole. When he went back on Wednesday morning, it had all gone?

Dyno-Rod Worker: Yeah. Completely.

Robin White: But later, police found parts of the bodies of two or three men, and a man was taken away for questioning. A next-door neighbor saw the police arrive.

Neighbor: Well, it was about eight o'clock, and the police came to the front door and said, could they go in my garden? So I said yes, there's no reason why they shouldn't. Then they said, there's something unpleasant going on next door. So I said, which way? And they pointed that way. Um, so I said, yes, carry on. So they came down through here, down to the garden, and they were up and down with torches. But I don't know what they did.

Robin White: The search then moved here, to another house a few miles away in Cricklewood. From what they'd learned, the police started looking for up to 13 more bodies. It's believed they could be tramps and vagrants from a nearby hostel. Police have now sealed off the premises and cordoned off a large area of waste ground behind. They're going to start a more thorough examination tomorrow morning. The house has been standing empty for some time, and neighbors say it had previously been used as an unofficial home for squatters and vagrants. Robin White, News at Ten, North London.

Carol Barnes: The man police picked up from a Muswell Hill bedsitter last night is still being held here at Hornsey police station in North London. Police are saying very little about what's going to happen to him, but it's expected that he'll be charged tomorrow. I understand that at one time he was a policeman himself, for at least a year, before he left to join a private security firm. Then he went on to the Manpower Services Commission as a civil servant. He's thought to be in his late 30s or early 40s, and to come from Aberdeen in Scotland. And it's likely he'll appear tomorrow at Highgate or Tottenham Magistrates' Court. Carol Barnes, News at Ten, Hornsey in North London. ---