Tears for man who trapped serial killer

KILLER ROLE: David Tennant, top, plays psychopath Dennis Nilsen, inset, in Des

THE SON of the detective who put serial killer Dennis Nilsen behind bars wept as he watched a disturbing drama about the case, says actor Daniel Mays.

Simon Jay said ITV’S Des was a tribute to his late father, Detective Inspector Peter Jay, who is played by Daniel in the three-night series.

Doctor Who star David Tennant, also known for his detective role in Broadchurch, plays Nilsen, known as “Des”, who murdered and dismembered 15 young men, many of them gay, in the 1980s.

Daniel, 42, who met Peter’s widow Linda and Simon, says: “Back then they didn’t have counsellors to talk to the police. Men didn’t do that then.

“They were there to deal with this evil case with horrific details but they would invariably go to the pub and have a load of pints.

“Simon has now seen the drama, and I got this overwhelmingly beautiful email from him saying he thought it

FITTING TRIBUTE: Actor Daniel, left, and detective Peter Jay

was a fitting tribute to his dad. He was really moved to tears by it.”

Des also touches on the psychological price paid by traumatised investigators.

Daniel says: “About two years after the case, Peter left the force for good. He’d definitely been worn down by it.

“He’d had an earlier marriage which went wrong. They’d had four boys.

“A lot of victims were so young and Peter became the driving force to identify the

victims and get closure for all the families.

“It was devastating for him when they had to shut the case down because it was getting too expensive [to identify all the victims].”

Peter died in 2018 and Daniel said: “I really wanted to make sure that it was my testament to Peter, just to illustrate what a wonderful job he did on this case.”

Daniel believes Nilsen was more than just a psychopath.

He says: “He was able to prey on the vulnerable, the homeless, and the needy – that’s the scary thing about him. He went on a killing spree for four years without being caught.

“He was able to live within our midst as a council worker [at the job centre], and that was what was so baffling; when the police went into his place of work they said it was nonsense.

“They just couldn’t understand how this quiet man could do anything like that.”

Daniel says of Nilsen’s crimes: “It was a murder case in reverse. Nilsen felt compelled to tell the police everything he’d done.

“When the police came to his house he looked upon it as help had finally arrived. He didn’t stop talking for three days.

“It’s mind-boggling what he did but there are lots of preconceived ideas too.

“The victims were not all gay. Many were vagrants, homeless young men in 1983.

“It was just a horrific moment in British legal history.”