Search for Keith will never be closed, say detectives
Police pledge follows death of Moors Murderer Ian Brady who refused to reveal where victim was buried
SENIOR POLICE officers have stressed they will never close the case of Moors Murder victim Keith Bennett despite the death of serial killer Ian Brady, who had faced mounting pressure from victims’ families to disclose the boy’s last resting place.
The 79-year-old Moors Murderer died on Monday, only hours after he was urged to “do the right thing” and reveal where the last of his child victims was buried.
Martin Bottomley, the head of Greater Manchester Police’s Cold Case Review Unit, maintained that officers would act on “credible and actionable” information which would help them find the body of 12-year-old Keith.
He said: “Whilst we are not actively searching Saddleworth Moors, Greater Manchester Police will never close this case. Brady’s death does not change that.”
Mr Bottomley praised the “incredible dignity” of the families of the victims of Moors Murderers Brady and Myra Hindley, adding: “I do not want to comment on Brady at all. The thoughts of everyone within Greater Manchester Police are with the families who lost loved ones in the most painful and traumatic way.
“It is especially saddening for the family of Keith Bennett that his killers did not reveal to police the whereabouts of Keith’s burial site. A week hardly goes by when we do not receive some information which purports to lead us to Keith but ultimately only two people knew where Keith is.
“I want to stress that our aim, as it always has been, is to find where Keith is buried and give closure to his surviving family members so they can give Keith the proper burial they so desperately want.”
Brady was jailed for the killings of John Kilbride, 12, 10-year-old Lesley Ann Downey and Edward Evans, 17, in 1966. He went on to admit the murders of Pauline Reade, 16, and 12-year-old Keith Bennett. The Glasgow-born killer, who used the name Ian Stewart-Brady before his death, had been held at Ashworth High Secure Hospital on Merseyside since 1985 and died at 6.03pm.
It emerged yesterday that a lawyer close to Keith’s family reached out just weeks ago to Brady to “look at his conscience before it was too late” but was met with silence. Brady had ignored repeated requests from Keith’s late mother, Winnie Johnson, over several decades to identify the location of the boy’s makeshift grave on Saddleworth Moor so she could give her son a Christian burial.
Solicitor John Ainley, who represented Mrs Johnson and works closely with Keith’s brother, Alan, said he had written to Brady less than two months ago and appealed to him to “look at his conscience” and agree to a meeting to aid the search for Keith’s body. He received no reply.
Lord Pendry, the former MP for Stalybridge and Hyde, said he believed Brady’s “jealousy” of Hindley motivated the killer to agree to return to Saddleworth Moor in 1987 in an attempt to find Keith’s burial place.
The Labour peer secretly visited Ashworth Hospital and held a five-hour conversation with Brady to persuade him to lead police to Keith’s body.
Lord Pendry said he thought Brady was motivated by jealousy over Hindley who had earlier assisted police to discover the body of Pauline Reade on the moor.
However, Brady’s lawyer has said he would be “very surprised” if the serial killer had withheld information on the burial site of Keith. Robin Makin spoke to Brady less than two hours before he died on Monday as the pair discussed his legal affairs and funeral arrangements. The Liverpool-based solicitor said the whereabouts of Keith’s remains did not come up in conversation.
Only hours before Brady’s death, Terry Kilbride, whose brother John was also murdered, had urged the serial killer to tell police where he dumped the body of Keith, who went missing in 1964.
Our aim is to find where Keith is buried and give closure. Martin Bottomley, the head of Greater Manchester Police’s Cold Case Review Unit.