Law change bids to unlock Brady briefcases
TWO briefcases kept by Ian Brady while he was held at Ashworth Prison could hold vital information about the last undiscovered body of one of his victims.
Brady and Myra Hindley, tortured and murdered five children and buried them on Saddleworth Moor in the 1960s.
Dubbed ‘The Moor Murders’, Brady and Hindley were jailed for life in 1966 with Brady later moving to the prison as he was considered insane.
While at the highsecurity hospital in Maghull, evil Brady kept two locked Samsonite briefcases in his bedroom.
But hours before his death in 2017, Brady gave strict instructions for the briefcases to be handed to his solicitor.
And since his death, police have been unable to access their contents.
In February 2021, there was fresh hope the briefcases could be opened.
Section 8 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) gives police powers to enter and search specified premises and seize evidence, subject to application to a judge for a warrant.
However, the case of Keith Bennett identified a gap in the existing search warrant legislation.
Twelve-year-old Keith was abducted and killed by Brady and Hindley in the 1960s. His family have been looking for his body for more than fifty years.
Brady had previously suggested to the Bennett family that he held information relating to the location of Keith’s body, but the existence of the briefcases was not known until after his death.
A magistrate subsequently denied an application by Greater Manchester Police for search warrants to access the briefcases to see if they contained information, on the grounds that as both Brady and Hindley were deceased it was no longer possible to bring about any prosecution for criminal offences relating to Keith’s death.
The issue was raised with the Home Office in 2019. On investigation, it was concluded there were no further avenues available to Greater Manchester Police and the Home Office made the decision to resolve the issue through a change in the law.
Priti Patel and the Home Office proposed a new ‘Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill’ in a bid to change the law but it has not been passed as yet. ● A documentary shown on Channel 4 on Monday analysed never-before-seen letters from Brady and Hindley, written over their five decades in jail.