Missing Brady pages could hold clues to victim's burial site, documentary claims

Independent

5 days ago

Missing pages from an autobiography written by Moors murderer Ian Brady could throw new light on where his final missing victim is buried, it is claimed.
The last 200 pages of Brady's manuscript could contain his account of 12-year-old Keith Bennett's murder and burial in 1964, according to a BBC documentary.
Keith's body is the only one of Brady and Myra Hindley's five victims to have never been recovered from their burial site for victims on the Pennine Moors above Manchester.
The Glasgow-born serial killer's crimes shocked the nation as he abducted, tortured and murdered children in the 1960s along with Hindley, who died in prison in 2002.
The missing part of Brady's manuscript is believed to have been deposited with his solicitor, Robin Makin, after his death in 2017 aged 79.
Mr Makin has previously said he did not believe Brady had any information that could lead to the discovery of Keith Bennet's body.
Pauline Reade, 16, disappeared on her way to a disco on July 12 1963 and John Kilbride, 12, was snatched in November the same year.
Keith Bennett was taken on June 16 1964 after he left home to visit his grandmother; Lesley Ann Downey, 10, was lured away from a funfair on Boxing Day 1964; and Edward Evans, 17, was killed in October 1965.
In 1966, Brady was given a life sentence at Chester Assizes for the murders of John, Lesley Ann and Edward. Hindley was convicted of killing Lesley Ann and Edward and shielding Brady after John's murder, and also jailed for life.
In 1987, the pair finally admitted killing Keith and Pauline and were taken back to Saddleworth Moor to help police find the remains of the missing victims, but only Pauline's body was found.
Theologian Dr Alan Keightley published a book about the killer, based on hours of interviews with him at Ashworth Special Hospital, where Brady was held.
Keightley himself died in 2023, but his widow, Joan, has given the documentary-makers access to her late husband's extensive archive.
This includes an incomplete copy of a typed manuscript titled Black Light, which Brady appears to have written.
Keightley writes in his own book that Brady told him Black Light was at least 600 pages long. The copy in his own archive stops abruptly at page 394, shortly before the murder of John Kilbride, Brady and Hindley's second victim.
The missing pages could contain information about the whereabouts of the remains of Keith Bennett, according to the makers of documentary, titled, The Moors Murders – A Search For Justice.
Keightley wrote in his book that Brady once asked him to deliver a 'double sealed parcel', which he assumed to contain the autobiography, to a solicitor in London.
This ended up with Mr Makin's law firm in Liverpool.
Mr Makin has not responded for comment, according to the BBC.
Winnie Johnson, 78, the mother of Keith Bennett, died in 2012, without fulfilling her life-long wish to give her son a Christian burial.
Greater Manchester Police have said they will never close the case of Keith Bennett, and while they are currently not actively searching the Moors they will act on 'credible and actionable' information that would help them locate his body.
Their last search, in 2022, prompted by claims from a member of the public researching the murder, resulted in nothing being found.
The Moors Murders: A Search for Justice is on BBC Two at 9pm. Both episodes are available on BBC iPlayer now.