Police denied access to Moors killer Brady’s secret papers

DETECTIVES searching for the body of Keith Bennett, one of the five victims of Ian Brady, the Moors murderer, have been denied access to examine Brady’s briefcases and papers.

In the hours before his death in May 2017, Brady asked for two locked cases that were in his room at Ashworth hospital in Merseyside to be put in secure storage.

Detectives sought a search warrant to open the cases and examine the contents for any clue to the spot where Brady and Myra Hindley, his accomplice, buried the boy, who was 12 when he was abducted and murdered in 1964.

A district judge denied the application because there was no prospect of an investigation leading to a prosecution. Hindley died aged 60 in 2002.

Robert Makin, Brady’s solicitor, has refused requests from Greater Manchester Police and from Keith’s family to examine the contents of the briefcases. Alan Bennett, Keith’s brother, told The Times: “There is a desperate need to look for anything that may help in the recovery of Keith’s body and there may be something in those cases.

“During my correspondence with Brady many years ago, he stated that he had left instructions in his will for me alone. He did not give any further detail, but it was at a time when I was searching on the moor and asking him about routes taken, areas of the moor, landmarks.

“The refusal by Mr Makin to help any further is a great cause of distress considering that my brother’s body still remains on the moor while all the other victims have been returned to their loved ones for a proper burial.”

Brady and Hindley killed five children in 1964-66. The remains of three were found on Saddleworth Moor. The body of a fifth was found at their house.