Joelle Owusu-Sekyere, Commissioning Editor at Coronet, an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton, has acquired World All Languages rights to a book by Michael Morley, a former investigative journalist who interviewed serial killer Dennis Nilsen. Owusu-Sekyere acquired rights from Luigi Bonomi of LBA and Coronet will publish The Dennis Nilsen Tapes as a paperback original and ebook on 24th June 2021.

The Dennis Nilsen Tapes: In Jail with Britain’s Most Infamous Serial Killer will offer a never-before-seen account of Morley’s chilling two-year correspondence with the Scottish serial killer, which began with an intense face-to-face meeting. In 1992, alongside Paul Britton and a film crew, Morley spent two days inside the high-security Vulnerable Prisoner Unit at Albany Prison on the Isle of Wight and became the only person ever to record and broadcast an interview with Nilsen. Famously, the majority of the footage was cut following a last-minute injunction from the Home Office; Morley will now reveal the full extent of the four hours of recorded material resulting from his time with Nilsen.

Following that interview, he and Nilsen began a letter correspondence spanning around two years where Michael would receive numerous letters outlining not only the atrocities Nilsen had committed, but also what made him a serial killer. Nilsen’s letters to Michael have never been made public and Michael has never talked of them until now.

Joelle Owusu-Sekyere says: “I am thrilled to be publishing Michael’s story at Coronet. He will be opening up about his letters from Nilsen for the very first time, and his story is truly intriguing. With public interest in Nilsen at a high following David Tennant's chilling portrayal of him in 'Des', I'm looking forward to what will be an in-depth and candid exploration into Dennis Nilsen’s true character and the enthralling impact he had on Michael’s life.”

Michael Morley says: ‘’I’m thrilled Coronet are publishing my unique investigation into the mind and crimes of Britain’s most notorious serial killer and necrophile, some parts of which I reveal in the upcoming 2021 documentary on Nilsen due to be screened globally on one of the world’s largest streaming platforms. The book goes beyond the historic interview I filmed with Nilsen in prison that the government tried to ban and with the help of the world’s foremost criminologists and offender profilers provides new insight into what Nilsen did and why he did it.”