Brady’s release horrified former PM

The suggestion provoked a furious reaction from Mrs Thatcher who was adamant they should both die behind bars, describing their crime as “the most hideous and cruel of modern times”.

Over a period of 18 months in the 1960s, Brady and Hindley, his accomplice, kidnapped and murdered five children in north-west England. The bodies of three of their victims were later found buried on Saddleworth Moor near Oldham. In 1966 they were given life sentences with the trial judge recommending they should spend “a very long time” in prison.

In 1985, their cases came up for review for the first time by the Parole Board. In a memorandum to the prime minister, Mr Brittan said that while he didnotexpecttheboardtorecommend their release on this occasion, there would come a time when they could be safely released into the public.

Mrs Thatcher wrote: “I think the sentences you are proposing are too short. I do not think that either of these prisoners should ever be released from custody. Their crime was the most hideous and cruel of modern times.”

Hindley made several appeals against her life sentence but was never released. She died in 2002, aged 60.

Brady was declared criminally insane in 1985 and died earlier this year aged 79.