Solicitor is slammed for refusing to admit killer was ‘bad not mad’

IAN Brady’s lawyer came under fire yesterday after refusing to label the killer as evil in a BBC interview.

Robin Makin, who represented Brady for 25 years, also described his final meeting with the notorious murderer as “quite a moving situation”.

Mr Makin was one of the last people to see Brady alive when he visited him in Ashworth Hospital in Maghull, Merseyside on Monday, two hours before his death.

The solicitor said that while he had “the utmost sympathy” for the families of Brady and Myra Hindley’s victims he had never asked Brady to reveal the location of missing Keith Bennett.

The BBC was also criticised on social media for its lengthy “ghoulish and inappropriate” coverage of Brady’s death which included a long interview with Mr Makin on Radio 4’s flagship Today programme.

Mr Makin said he hoped that Keith’s remains could be found but added: “Unfortunately I have no information which could assist.”

The lawyer refused to agree that Brady and Hindley had become “synonymous with evil” in the public’s mind.

He said: “What they did was undoubtedly of the highest level of criminality but the more interesting issue is how his mind developed in that way and what caused that mental illness.”

He also refused to agree that Brady had been “bad not mad”.

Mr Makin said: “I think there are causes which develop into mental illness which led to this horrific conduct.”

Mr Makin refused to be drawn on whether Brady expressed any remorse or regret for his crimes or what his last requests were.

Last night John Ainley, the solicitor for the Bennett family, said there was “no justification” for blaming Brady’s actions on mental illness.

Alan Bennett, Keith’s brother, would be “very disappointed” with Mr Makin’s statements in the interview, he added.