Serial killer takes his secrets to the grave
Moors murderer Ian Brady dies aged 79
IAN BRADY, one of Britain’s most notorious serial killers, has died aged 79, it was confirmed last night.
Brady, who along with accomplice Myra Hindley murdered five children in the 1960s, had been suffering from a lung and chest condition and died at the Ashworth High Security Hospital in Merseyside.
But even in death, Brady continued to cause anguish, taking the secret of where he buried the last of his victims, Keith Bennett, to the grave with him.
Brady and Hindley, who died in prison in 2002, became known as the Moors murderers after torturing and killing five youngsters: Pauline Reade, 16, John Kilbride, 12, Keith Bennett, 12, Lesley Ann Downey, 10, and Edward Evans, 17. They buried their bodies on the Saddleworth Moor in the Pennines.
In recent years, with his heath failing, Brady was urged to reveal the whereabouts of 12-year-old Keith’s body, but he persistently refused, allowing the boy’s elderly mother to die without ever being able to lay her son to rest.
Brady had long expressed the wish to be allowed to die. In 2013 he asked to be moved to a Scottish prison so that he could be allowed to starve himself to death, but his appeal was rejected after Ashworth medical experts said he had chronic mental illness and needed continued care in hospital.
In February he was refused permission to launch a High Court fight to have the lawyer of his choice representing him at a tribunal where the decision would be reviewed. During the hearing it was revealed that he had been bedridden for two years and was suffering from emphysema and terminally ill.
Last night a Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust spokesman said: “We can confirm a 79-year-old patient in longterm care at Ashworth High Secure Hospital has died after becoming physically unwell.”
MOORS murderer Ian Brady has died aged 79, taking the whereabouts of his final victim to his grave.
The notorious serial killer, whose accomplice, Myra Hindley, died in prison in 2002, had repeatedly refused to reveal where they had buried 12-yearold Keith Bennett.
Brady, who was jailed for life in 1966, but had spent much of his time in a secure hospital, appeared to enjoy toying with the authorities and never showed any remorse for his appalling crimes.
The gravity of his and Hindley’s acts in the 1960s, when they abducted youngsters from the streets before torturing and murdering them, shocked the nation to the core.
Rejected by his mother, Brady was brought up by foster parents in the Gorbals area of Glasgow, but later moved to Manchester with his mother and stepfather.
Obsessed with Nazi Germany, sadism and sexual perversion, he first met Hindley when she worked as a secretary at the company where they were both employed.
Their killing spree began in 1963 when they abducted 16-year-old Pauline Reade, as she made her way to a disco near her home in Gorton, Manchester.
She was lured to the moors by Hindley, who said she had lost her gloves there and needed help finding them.
Her body was discovered in 1987 after the murderers eventually confessed to the killing.
Brady had beaten her about the head and cut her throat with such force that her spinal cord was severed.
Four months after Pauline vanished, the day after President John F Kenne- dy’s assassination in the US, 12-year-old John Kilbride became Brady’s second victim. John, from Manchester, was lured on to the moor, where he was sexually assaulted and murdered.
Brady took a photograph of Hindley standing on the edge of his grave holding her pet dog. The photograph would later lead police to the young boy’s resting place.
Keith Bennett, who was 12 at the time, died after leaving his home in Chorlton-on-medlock in Manchester on June 16 1964.
Police mounted an intensive search of the moor in 1986 amid reports that the pair had confessed to his murder, but his remains were never discovered.
Their next victim was 10-year-old Lesley Ann Downey who was abducted and killed on Boxing Day in 1964.
She became their youngest victim when she was lured from a fairground to the house Hindley shared with her grandmother in Hattersley.
Brady stripped, sexually abused and tortured her, forcing her to pose for pornographic photographs. Her last moments were recorded on a harrowing 16-minute, 21-second audio tape.
The terrified girl begged for mercy, called out for her mother and appealed to God for help before her voice was stifled forever.
Edward Evans, 17, who was lured from a gay bar to Brady and Hindley’s home, was their last victim.
Brady was 28 in May 1966 when he and Hindley were convicted of murdering Lesley Ann and Edward.
He was also convicted of the murder of John Kilbride and received three life sentences to run concurrently.
In 1987 Brady finally confessed to the murders of Pauline Reade and Keith Bennett but he was never tried for the crimes.
Brady had fought for the right to be moved from a secure hospital to prison where he wanted to be allowed to starve himself to death.
However, his transfer request was refused after medical experts said he had chronic mental illness and needed continued care in hospital.
Last night, a Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust spokesman said he had died at 6.03pm yesterday evening. The spokesman did not confirm what Brady had died of, but said he had been on oxygen for a while.
In a statement the trust said: “We can confirm a 79-year-old patient in long-term care at Ashworth High Secure Hospital has died after becoming physically unwell.”
The brother of John Kilbride said he felt “numb” at the news of Brady’s death. Terry Kilbride told the Sun: “He’s ruined our lives all these years and he’ll still ruin it even though he’s gone.”
‘He’s ruined our lives all these years and he’ll still ruin it even though he’s gone’