BRADY’S FINAL SECRETS
Locked-away files could hold clues to finding Keith
IAN Brady left behind two locked briefcases which may give clues to where he buried a victim.
The Moors Murderer’s dying wish was for them to be locked away by his solicitor, his inquest heard yesterday.
Brady, 79, never revealed where victim Keith Bennett, 12, was buried.
Terry Kilbride, whose brother John was also killed by Brady, said: “There must be something in those cases.”
Police would not say if they had been given access. There are now demands for the cases to be opened.
MOORS Murderer Ian Brady took his evil secrets to the grave as he died in “distress” gasping for air.
But with his final words, he ordered that two locked Samsonite briefcases should be taken from his bedside and handed to his solicitor Robin Makin.
He had already insisted they should not be opened until after his death.
The revelation at Brady’s inquest yesterday has given hope of new clues to locate the body of 12-year-old Keith Bennett – the only victim of Brady and Myra Hindley never to be found.
Keith’s mother, Winnie Johnson, died in 2012 without knowing her son’s final resting place. But his brother Alan, 57, yesterday insisted the child killer’s death did not mean the “end of the search”.
He added: “Let Keith and the other victims be in our thoughts.”
His lawyer John Ainley called on Mr Makin – who was unavailable for comment – to hand over the cases.
He said: “I was aware of the briefcases, which have not been provided to the police, as I understand it. Certainly Alan Bennett would be very interested in these being opened and the contents being seen because there may be information in there.
“It may not be relevant to anyone else but with all the knowledge Alan has, it may lead to the spot where Keith is buried. So we would ask Mr Makin to provide those either to the police or to Alan Bennett. In fact we would like all his papers because they may give Alan, with his knowledge of the case, some information which may lead him to finding where Keith is buried.”
Terry Kilbride, 62, whose brother John was another of Brady’s five victims, said: “There must be something in those briefcases for him to go to those lengths to hide them away. It’s all the hope we have for finding Keith.”
And Terry West, 66, brother of victim Lesley Ann Downey, 10, added: “I would like to know what’s in those briefcases.
“Fingers crossed there might be something that would finally help us to find Keith’s body.”
Greater Manchester Police declined to say if they had been given access to the contents of the cases.
A spokesman said: “As with any investigation, if new and credible evidence or information comes to light, we will keep an open mind. However, we do not confirm whether specific pieces of evidence or potential evidence forms part of active lines of inquiry.”
Brady and Hindley were jailed for life in 1966 over the killings of John, 12, Lesley, 10, and Edward Evans, 17.
In 1985 Brady confessed to the murders of Keith and Pauline Reade, 16.
That same year Brady was admitted to Ashworth high security hospital in Merseyside and given the alias Ian Steel, yesterday’s inquest heard.
By the time of his death in May, he was an invalid. He suffered from emphysema, brought on by heavy smoking – a habit he kept up until it was banned at the hospital in 2008. The serial killer’s health deteriorated further in February this year and got worse in late April.
Dr Noir Thomas, a consultant forensic psychiatrist, told the hearing: “His condition was noted to deteriorate significantly with an increase in shortness of breath, distress and progressive physical frailty.”
Five days before his death, Brady took out his own feeding tube, which staff did not replace. Five-and-a-half hours before he died on May 15, he was found to be “laboured in his breathing and agitated”.
But he summoned his remaining strength to make a final request. Dr Thomas said: “He asked for his solicitor to be notified and requested his locked briefcases be removed from his room.”
He was declared dead at 6.02pm. The inquest heard he died of heart failure
There may be information that will lead Keith’s brother to the spot he is buried JOHN AINLEY LAWYER FOR KEITH BENNETT’S BROTHER ALAN
brought on by lung disease. The hearing in Bootle, Merseyside, was also given details of Brady’s mental health, with specialists confirming for the first time that he was a paedophile. Dr Thomas said Brady was a paranoid schizophrenic with an underlying “narcissistic and “antisocial” personality disorder, adding: “He was also thought to suffer from a number of deviant sexual disorders, to include sadism and paedophilia.” But Brady would not engage with psychiatrists or take anti-psychotic drugs. He would verbally abuse staff and demand a move to a mainstream prison, but was refused. Dr Thomas also dismissed Brady’s 18-year “hunger strike”.
He said the prisoner was fed by a nasogastric tube up his nose but also took solid food and drinks.
The doctor added: “Clinical teams regularly sought to bring an end to his reported ‘hunger strike’, recognising he was regularly accepting diet and fluids, alongside or substituted for his NG feed.
“Any attempt at negotiating a discontinuation would be met with hostility such that Mr Brady would then commence absolute fluid and food refusal.” Pathologist Dr Brian Rodgers, who carried out a postmortem, said Brady weighed 9st 8lb at the time of his death with no sign of “emaciation”. The inquest failed to shed light on what became of Brady’s corpse, which was released to lawyer Mr Makin on May 18. The coroner, Christopher Sumner, had wanted assurances the ashes would not be spread at Saddleworth Moor near Manchester– the burial site of tragic John, Lesley and Pauline.
Brady never revealed what happened to Keith’s body, revealing nothing when he spent a day searching the moorland with police in 1987.
His accomplice Hindley died in 2002, aged 60.
He was thought to suffer from deviant sexual disorders DR NOIR THOMAS ON PATIENT IAN BRADY