Who was Dennis Nilsen’s grandfather? Serial killer accused him of abuse and fusing love and death in his mind
Murderer recalls his death in drama Des, now on NetflixDennis Nilsen recalls witnessing his grandfather’s dead body in chilling drama Des – new to Netflix this November – and, as he is interviewed after his arrest, the serial killer attributes this to the reason he became a murderer.
But, in subsequent years, Nilsen also accused his grandfather – who he credits as being the only person he ever loved – of sexual abuse.
So what’s the truth? What was the true nature of Dennis Nilsen’s relationship with his grandfather, and what role did he play in shaping the notorious criminal’s mind?
Who was Dennis Nilsen’s grandfather?
Andrew Whyte was a North Sea trawler man, often away for long stretches from the Nilsen family home in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire.
For the young Nilsen, whose father had abandoned the family and whose mother was emotionally distant, his grandfather became a powerful father figure, the one adult who offered him warmth and attention.
When Andrew Whyte died suddenly of a heart attack at sea in 1949, five-year-old Nilsen’s mother ushered him to view his body in the family home. That traumatic encounter – seeing death up close for the first time – would, by the killer’s own account, leave an indelible mark.
“He was, to me, a great man,” Nilsen later said on tape. “The broad sweep of his 62 years is too great for this short narrative, but his mark upon me is indelible.”
In later writings and interviews, Nilsen described the moment of his grandfather’s death as the event that “fused the idea of love and death” in his mind – a theme that would echo through his later crimes.
Did Dennis Nilsen’s grandfather abuse him?
Years after his conviction, while corresponding with biographer Russ Coffey, Nilsen began to claim that his grandfather had sexually abused him as a child — an allegation that has never been proven.
“I vaguely remember that concrete, slit-eyed pillbox where strange things had happened between my grandfather and me,” he stated. It is a most horrifying admission to make, that the only tactile contact I had in my early formative years was the painful and confusing paradoxical embrace of a paedophile.”
These disturbing claims first surfaced in Nilsen’s later prison writings and were not part of his original court testimony or earlier interviews.
Coffey, who studied Nilsen’s psychology closely, believes the story may have been an attempt to rationalise or rewrite his crimes.
“Nilsen could paint such a vivid picture of a romantic outsider that it made it hard to believe he killed out of pure evil,” Coffey said. “The grandfather story… it’s possible, but there’s no proof. It feels like Nilsen searching for another villain.”
Nilsen’s mother, Betty Scott, also rejected her son’s later claims, insisting he had adored his grandfather and his death had devastated him.
Dennis Nilsen’s recollection of his grandfather in Des
There was no suggestion of his grandfather abusing Nilsen in ITV original drama Des as he only brought up these accusations some time later, once he was in prison. But in a pivotal scene in episode two, he recalls seeing his grandfather dead – and Nilsen’s own words make it clear that his loved one’s death was the emotional and symbolic starting point for his twisted connection between affection and mortality.
“I saw my grandfather’s corpse when I was six years old,” recalls Nilsen, played terrifyingly brilliantly by David Tennant. “[He died] at sea. He was a fisherman. They brought his coffin back to the house. It was normal back then. And my mother woke my mother up and said, ‘Do you want to see your grandad?’ I went in the living room and he was there in a box. They just said he was sleeping.
“After he left, the mystery of death always fascinated me. Sometimes I’d put talc on my face, paint my lips blue and poke my eyes till they were bloodshot, and just look in the mirror.”
Later in the episode, he adds: “My grandfather – my great hero and protector – was the only person I ever loved. Seeing my grandfather in that box… all my troubles started there. It blighted my personality permanently, that’s why I did all these things.”
What happened to Dennis Nilsen?
Dennis Nilsen murdered at least six young men and boys between 1978 and 1983, luring many to his North London flats before killing and dismembering them. Police finally caught him when human remains blocked a drain outside his home in Muswell Hill.
The jury at the Old Bailey found him guilty of six murders and two attempted murders, and the judge sentenced him to life imprisonment. However, upon his arrest, he told police he had killed ’15, maybe 16′. Nilsen died in 2018, aged 72, from a pulmonary embolism while serving his sentence at HMP Full Sutton in East Yorkshire.
Watch Des and Memories of a Murderer: The Nilsen Tapes on Netflix
For those wanting to understand more about Dennis Nilsen’s grandfather, Andrew Whyte, and the early life of one of Britain’s most infamous serial killer, two key programmes are available to stream now: Des – the award-winning ITV drama starring David Tennant as Nilsen is new to Netflix this November; Memories of a Murderer: The Nilsen Tapes – a documentary built around Nilsen’s own prison recordings – is also available to stream on Netflix.
