On this day

Dennis Nilsen had, while in Whitemoor top security prison, written his life story. Titled "The Drowning Man", in 2001 he had sent it to a book publisher. The prison authority seized the manuscript and refused to return it to him.

Nilsen took his fight to be allowed the right to publish to the high court in London and initially he won the case. Mr Justice Elias said Nilsen, could seek a judicial review to challenge the decision not to return the manuscript to him so he could edit it. Nilsen has stated that all proceeds of the book will go to charity.

In 2002, Dennis Nilsen lost the legal battle over his planned autobiography. The High Court said the Prison Service had the right to read - and possibly censor - the manuscript before his solicitors are allowed to return it to him so he can continue working on it. His barrister Flo Krause argued the home secretary and prison authorities had no powers to vet the manuscript, currently held by his solicitors, before it was handed to him.

Ms Krause said the authorities would be breaching Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. She argued it would be irrational and a "disproportionate" action breaching his right to respect for family life, home and correspondence. It would also breach Article 10, protecting freedom of expression, argued Ms Krause.

Rejecting the challenge, Mr Justice Crane ruled that the home secretary was "fully entitled to require that the manuscript be stopped and read". Ms Krause said Nilsen, now held at Full Sutton prison, near York, could have had the book published before now, but wanted to do further work on it. She insisted he was not being underhand in any way. Nilsen says the book, called "Nilsen: History of a Drowning Man", is a serious work about his life and imprisonment. The manuscript, which he started working on in the early 1990s, was taken out by Nilsen's then solicitor in 1996 whilst he was being held at Whitemoor prison. The prison authorities said it was taken without their knowledge and authority.

Nilsen, who was given legal aid, was refused permission to appeal. An anthology of poems and tapes of music he recorded in prison were also blocked.