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Who is criminologist David Wilson?

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Who is criminologist David Wilson?
Who is criminologist David Wilson?

DAVID Wilson has devoted his life to stepping into the minds of evil murderers.

Now a criminologist, the professor was once a prison governor at the jail serial killer Dennis Nilsen was caged in.

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David Wilson is a top criminologist and TV starCredit: Rex

Who is David Wilson?

Born in Scotland on April 23, 1957, David Wilson is a former prison governor.

As of 2023 he continues to work as a professor of criminology at Birmingham City University.

He works to explain criminal behaviour by analysing a host of areas (like economics) that have an impact on a crime.

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David has also become a familiar face on TV, and is known for hosting crime documentaries.

He famously fronted Channel 4 docuseries In The Footsteps Of Killers alongside Silent Witness star Emilia Fox.

The three-part documentary looks at three, real-life unsolved murder cases.

Other TV work incudes hosting The Crime Squad for BBC One, and also Too Young to Die?, which was about the plight of young people on death row in the USA.

Over on BBC Two David presented Who Killed Ivan The Terrible?

His work on Channel 5 includes presenting Banged Up, which was nominated for a Royal Television Society award.

How did David Wilson and Dennis Nilsen meet?

Serial killer Dennis Nilsen admitted killing at least 15 people but ultimately was convicted of the murders of six men and two attempted murders.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment on November 4, 1983.

The killer died in York Hospital in 2018, aged 72, after collapsing in his prison cell.

While working as a prison governor, David got transferred to HM Prison Brixton, where he met Nilsen, who was serving his sentence their at the time.

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What did Dennis Nilsen say to David Wilson?

David spoke to Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield on This Morning about his encounters with serial killer Nilsen.

He said: "I was literally 23 years old when he first met me and came into my cell and I was a doctor of philosophy, I was in the age group of his victims.

"At a later date I interviewed him about another matter and when I finished the interview he leaned over the desk and said 'Do you have to go?'

"He knew I knew those were his last words before he killed his first victim."

After sharing this chilling comment, he admitted that he thought Nilsen "fancied" him.

He also said that the killer would "toy with him".

David thinks that Nilsen came across like "a weedy geography teacher" in person.

Explaining how he thought he was definitely sane, he said: "There was no evidence of mental illness, he was interested in power and control and the ultimate form of expressing that was through taking other people’s lives."

Joanne Kavanagh

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