Moors murderer Brady dies in UK jail
RELATIVES of the children killed by Ian Brady, the man responsible for Britain’s notorious “Moors Murders”, gave a bittersweet reaction yesterday to his death, as newspapers hailed the demise of a monster.
The 79-year-old, who died on Monday, and his partner Myra Hindley tortured and murdered five children between July 1963 and October 1965.
The brutality of the crimes -- which in several cases included sexual assault -- and the role of a woman in luring innocent young children to their deaths, make it one of Britain’s most notorious cases.
The brother of 12-year-old John Kilbride, who was strangled after Hindley lured him away from a market in November 1963, said “good riddance” to Brady but conceded his death would not help ease the pain.
“It’s a lot to take in. It’s been years and years of anguish and pain for us and the families of the victims,” Terry Kilbride, 62, told The Sun.
“But nothing will change. He’s dead but we will have to still live with the nightmare that he left behind.
“He’s ruined our lives all these years and he’ll still ruin it even though he’s gone. I feel numb.”
Four of Hindley and Brady’s victims were buried on Saddleworth Moor, a national park near Manchester in central England, although the body of 12-year-old Keith Bennett has never been found.
The pair were jailed in 1966 for the murders of John Kilbride, Lesley Ann Downey, 10, and Edward Evans, 17.
Years later, they confessed to Bennett’s murder and that of 16-year-old Pauline Reade. But Brady never expressed remorse for the killings, and the judge in his trial said both he and Hindley were “evil beyond belief”. Hindley died in prison in 2002.
Brady had been held in a high security hospital near Liverpool in northwest England.
He was reportedly receiving palliative care for emphysema.
“We can confirm a 79-year-old patient in long-term care at Ashworth High Secure Hospital has died after becoming physically unwell,” a spokesman from the local health service said on Monday.
“Monster Brady is dead”, headlined The Sun, while the Daily Mirror splashed: “Burn in Hell Brady”.