Ian Brady dead at 79 as Moors murderer loses his cancer battle – and takes secret of where he buried Keith Bennett, 12, to the grave
MOORS murderer Ian Brady has died — taking to his grave the secret of where he buried one of his victims Keith Bennett.
Brady, 79, who murdered and tortured five children, died in Ashworth Hospital, Merseyside.
He had been getting round-the-clock care from cancer nurses.
A source said: “He was allowed to die with dignity, something he failed to offer his poor victims.”
Brady never revealed where he buried Keith, 12 — the only victim whose remains are undiscovered.
The brother of Ian Brady victim John Kilbride last night told The Sun he felt “numb” when he heard the Moors Murderer had finally joined accomplice Myra Hindley in hell.
Terry Kilbride, 63, said: “It’s a lot to take in. It’s been years and years of anguish and pain for us and the families of the victims.
“But nothing will change. He’s dead but we will have to still live with the nightmare that he left behind.
“He’s ruined our lives all these years and he’ll still ruin it even though he’s gone. I feel numb.
“He was a murderous psychopath. There are no other words to describe what he was. A complete lunatic. Good riddance.
“I don’t drink, but I’ll have a pint.”
A spokesman for the Mersey Care NHS Foundation 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."
Brady was not found dead in his room in the Merseyside unit, the spokesman said, but he was unable to confirm if anyone was with him when he died, adding: "Quite possibly. I don't know."
The crimes of Brady and Myra Hindley - who died in prison in 2002 - shocked the nation as details of how the pair snatched children off the street, abused and tortured them to death were recalled during their trial at Chester Assizes.
Brady escaped the hangman's noose as the death penalty was abolished just months earlier and was handed three life sentences.
The vile killer was born in Glasgow in 1938 and attended Shawlands Academy – a school for above-average pupils.
His violent personality was shaped by an unstable background.
His mother neglected him and he was raised by foster parents in the Gorbals – Glasgow’s toughest slum.
After a spree of petty crime as a teenager the courts sent him to Manchester to live with his mum and her new husband, Patrick Brady.
Ian took his stepfather’s name, continued his criminal activities and developed into a teenage alcoholic.
He pursued new interests in a bid to “better himself” – building up a library of books on Nazi Germany, sadism and sexual perversion.
Brady first met Myra Hindley when she worked as a secretary at the same company in Manchester where he was working as a stores clerk.
It was love at first sight and Brady impressed her by reading Mein Kampf in the original German.
On July 12, 1963, Brady told Hindley he wanted to “commit his perfect murder”.
He told her to drive a van around the local area while he followed on his motorbike.
After spotting Pauline Reade, 16, the couple stopped and Hindley asked her if she would help her locate an expensive glove she had lost on the Moor.
Hindley claimed Brady then took Pauline on to the Moor, where he slashed her throat twice and sexually assaulted her.
Brady claims that Hindley helped.
On November 23, 1963, Hindley approached John Kilbride in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancs, and offered him a lift home.
Brady told the 12-year-old he would give him some sherry, but they would have to make a detour on the Moor first.
He sexually assaulted the youngster and attempted to slit his throat with a six-inch serrated blade before fatally strangling him with a piece of string.
Keith Bennett, 12, was on his way to his grandmother’s house on June 16, 1964, when Hindley lured him into her van.
She drove to a lay-by on the Moor and Brady took the boy while Hindley kept watch.
Brady reappeared 30 minutes later having sexually assaulted and strangled Keith.
His body was never found.
In search of another victim, the couple visited a fairground on Boxing Day, 1964, and came across Lesley Ann Downey.
They approached the 10-year-old and lured her back to their house, where she was undressed, gagged and forced to pose for photographs before being raped and killed.
The following morning Brady and Hindley drove with Downey’s body to Saddleworth Moor, where she was buried, naked with her clothes at her feet, in a shallow grave.
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How monster's health deteriorated
The exact cause of Brady’s ill health has not been revealed.
However he was a heavy smoker for years.
In December he claimed to be suffering a lung and chest condition.
He said in a letter: "I’m still bedridden and have been for over two years.
"It is terminal."
On 6 October 1965 Brady met 17-year-old apprentice engineer Edward Evans at Manchester Central railway station.
He invited him to his home where Brady beat him to death with an axe.
Eventually Brady and Hindley were arrested and then jailed for life for three murders in 1966.
They also later confessed to the others. Hindley died in hospital aged 60 in 2002.
In 1985, Brady was transferred from jail to Ashworth.
He has been on suicide watch for years and went on hunger strike in 1999 in protest at being declared insane.
Since then he has been kept alive by being force fed a liquid diet by nasal tube.
In 2013, Brady forced a £250,000 mental health tribune in which he claimed he was no longer a paranoid schizophrenic and should be moved to a jail in his native Scotland and allowed to die.
But he lost the ruling and was returned to Ashworth.
A PROFOUND INHUMANITY
By BRIAN MASTERS, Criminologist
At the Moors Murders trial they played the tape Ian Brady made of the screams of Lesley Anne Downey as she begged for her life and called for her mummy.
In court Brady was asked why did you make two copies of that tape, which was found in the left luggage locker at Manchester railway station?
Brady replied: “Because it was interesting and unusual.”
This illustrates perfectly his profound inhumanity.
Brady could not understand why the question was asked.
He was a psychopath – totally beyond human moral understanding.
Throughout his life he never understood the emotional impact of his actions.
Brady buried all his victims by himself.
The reason he did not reveal the location of the last of his six victims, Keith Bennett, is because he simply did not care.
His refusal to reveal to Keith’s family where the body is buried means, I fear, that sadly he will never be found.
Brady did not care about the heartache of the families and their need for closure. He only cared about himself.