An Irishman admitted to killing 16 people in London but his crimes were covered up by Scotland Yard, a former detective has claimed.

Geoff Platt has made the remarkable claims in a new book, ‘The Underground Serial Killer’. He says that Kiernan Kelly, believed to have been from Dublin, could possibly have killed more than 18 people, including 16 who he pushed onto the tracks of the London Underground, the Daily Mail reports. The crimes were never exposed however as police feared a public panic, Platt alleges.

Kelly’s crimes first came to light when he was being questioned in relation to another murder, Platt claims. Police arrested Kelly in 1984 for an unrelated matter. While in the holding cell Kelly became enraged with his cellmate William Boyd for snoring. Kelly attacked Boyd, knocking him to the floor and kicking him in the head before eventually strangling him with his socks.

In an interview with police after the murder of Boyd, Kelly admitted to 16 previous murders – which he said he carried out by pushing people onto the tracks of the Northern Line on the London Underground in the 1970s.

Kelly “was loaded with adrenaline” during the police interview, Mr Platt claims. “He couldn’t stop talking and eventually he came out with everything.”

Police were initially skeptical, Platt says: “We actually started to think it was b*******. There was a certain caution in some respects."

Mr Platt was charged with subsequently ordered to investigate Kelly’s claims, and spotted a strong pattern with one striking detail.

“What immediately came to notice was that there were a number of people who jumped off the platform in the Northern Line.

“But what especially smacked you in the face was every time someone jumped on the track... Kelly was next to him.”

Platt says that despite the allegations the police heads decided not to release details about the case as they were worried it would cause a public panic and stop commuters from taking the Underground.

Platt told the Daily Star: “It was a cover-up. Think about it, the police don’t want it getting out – there would be mass panic.

“They didn’t want people knowing a serial killer got away with pushing innocent people on to the tracks – they’d be afraid it could happen again.

“The public would stop using the Underground which would put more traffic on the roads. It would be chaos.”

Kelly was convicted of the murder of Boyd and also another murder – that of Hector Fisher, a vagrant found dead with stab wounds in a graveyard in Clapham Common in 1975.

Kelly was also charged with another murder and an attempted murder – in which he pushed a man onto the tracks of the London Underground in 1982.

A British Transport Police spokesman told the Daily Mail: "We are aware of the claims included in this book but given the passage of time since they are alleged to have been committed these would prove difficult to substantiate without further evidence.

"We would invite Mr Platt to submit any information he has on these matters to us."