An ex-Scotland Yard detective claiming there was a cover-up over the murders of 16 people by a 'serial killer' who allegedly pushed victims in front of Tube trains is to meet with police this week.

Former officer Geoff Platt says the Met Police intentionally “hushed up” the killings on the Northern line by a Clapham Common drifter.

Mr Platt, who lists working as a bodyguard to the Queen among his postings, has published a book claiming murderer Kiernan Kelly admitted to the killings in 1984 when questioned over the slaying of his Wandsworth Prison cellmate William Boyd.

A spokesman from the British Transport Police previously said it was aware of the claims and had invited Mr Platt to submit any information he has.

A meeting has now been scheduled for Friday.

Speaking to the Wandsworth Guardian, Mr Platt said Kelly was a practising homosexual who pushed his best friend Christie Smith under a train while visiting for the Queen’s coronation in 1953.

According to Mr Platt, Mr Smith asked Kelly if he was married, which led the killer to believing his secret was out.

Mr Platt, who published the full account in the book, called The London Underground Serial Killer, said: “Kelly went into a blind panic and while waiting for the last train back at Tooting Bec station, he heard the train coming and realised the solutions to his problems.”

He said Kelly gave Mr Smith “a hearty shove”, forcing him under the oncoming train.

When he was picked up by police for an incident a few weeks later and they made no mention of the murder, “he realised he had got away with it”.

Mr Platt claimed Kelly, a vagrant often seen on Clapham Common, could not get the thoughts of murdering his best friend out of his head and in the time between 1953 and 1983 murdered another 15 people in the same manner.

According to the former police officer, Kelly was investigated for the killings he admitted to, but was acquitted of eight of them.

Despite the severity and alarming number of murders, the police decided not to broadcast the story, claims Mr Platt, with the Home Office informing police chiefs not to speak to the media to prevent mass panic.

He said: “They were concerned that people wouldn’t want to commute on the Northern line and wanted to avoid mass panic, so a decision was made to not speak to the media.

“There is a judgement call from time to time, I’ve worked with politicians and the royal family, and of course not everything is announced. From time to time a decision comes from above and you have to obey that decision.”