Campaigning stepfather of Moors Murder victim Lesley Ann Downey dies aged 81
Alan West, the husband of Lesley Ann's mum, had a Parkinson’s-like condition
A HEARTBROKEN brother revealed he is now “praying” for Moors Murderer Ian Brady to die – after the campaigning stepdad of one of his child victim’s passed away.
Lesley Ann Downey was 10-years-old when she was abducted on Boxing day in 1964, brutally tortured and killed by evil Brady and his partner in crime Myra Hindley.
Stepdad Alan West, who had a Parkinson’s-like condition, had fought appeals by the child killers for years to ensure the pair remained behind bars.
Brady, 78, caged at a maximum security hospital, and Hindley – who died aged 60 – killed five kids and dumped their bodies on a moor near Manchester.
The twisted killers tape-recorded Lesley’s torture, where for 16 horrific minutes she could be heard pleading: “Please God no, let me go.
“I want my mummy!”
Lesley’s brother Terry West, the only family left, said of Brady: “The sooner he is not on this Earth the better.”
He added: “The rest of my family have all passed away.
“And yet the man who brought and caused all this terrible damage to my family still lives.
“To me it’s a joke, an absolute joke.
“I’ve lost everybody – Brady’s still destroying families.
“I hate him with a passion.”
Alan's wife Ann died in 1999 aged 69 following a battle with liver cancer.
Alan campaigned when Brady applied to be returned to prison, reiterating his desire to starve himself to death.
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At a subsequent mental health tribunal, held in June 2013 Brady claimed that he suffered not from paranoid schizophrenia, as his doctors at Ashworth maintained, but rather, a personality disorder.
But his application was rejected, with the judge stating that Brady "continues to suffer from a mental disorder which is of a nature and degree which makes it appropriate for him to continue to receive medical treatment".
After, Alan said that the legal hearing was just being launched by Brady to gain publicity and “massage his twisted ego”.
Fuming that his victims' families were dying while Brady lived on in comfort, frail West recently vented in his last interview: "While Brady is alive he is still haunting me.
"I know it will never leave my mind about our Les but perhaps Brady's death may help.
“He is just a monster to be honest, a monster."