Latest news with #MoorsMurders
Times
5 hours ago
- Times
Could Ian Brady's missing memoir help solve the Moors Murders mystery?
The main anguished question left unanswered by the so-called Moors murderers is, of course: Where is the body of 12-year-old Keith Bennett? Many articles, books and documentaries have agonised over this mystery for decades but it is rare that one unearths something genuinely new and which points, 60 years after he was killed, to a solid clue. The Moors Murders: A Search for Justice (BBC2) may just have found, if not a smoking gun, a strong signpost. The second and final episode of this conscientious, unsensationalist series reveals that the film-maker and journalist Duncan Staff has unearthed Ian Brady's secret typewritten autobiography — which Brady grandly called 'Black Light' — in which he describes the planning, murder and hasty burial of his and Myra Hindley's first victim, Pauline Reade, in 1963, including counting out the paces from her grave. This document could be the guide to where Keith is buried on Saddleworth Moor — though frustratingly it stops abruptly before getting to him. There are 200 pages missing. But they must, Staff reasons, be somewhere. Astonishingly, the pages that Staff has been given have laid hidden for years, with the police seemingly unaware of their existence. Staff believes the missing ones may have been deposited with Brady's solicitor. Hours before Brady's death in 2017 he asked for locked suitcases of papers in his room to be handed to Robin Makin, his solicitor. Police and members of the victims' families have requested access to it but this has been denied. Makin did not respond to the film-makers' request for information about the autobiography, said a statement. Bennett was one of Brady and Hindley's five victims PA Perhaps even more astonishingly, when Staff presented his findings to Greater Manchester Police it was at first interested but then appeared to have a change of heart. In the past, searches on the moors have proved very expensive, though this was not cited as a reason. 'We will carefully consider and respond, in a timely and professional manner, to any credible evidence shared with us that may lead us towards finding Keith,' said a statement. I'm no expert but Staff's findings seem very credible. Staff has been given access to a trove of Brady's documents and tape recordings of his voice held by Brady's confidant, the former religious studies teacher Dr Alan Keightley. Though it feels soiling to hear Brady's self-pitying, foul-mouthed whingeing (he even calls his own solicitors 'c***s') that he is allowed only a 'f***ing typewriter'. This film is not interested in raking over the gruesome details of the torture, rape and murder of their young victims, which, depressingly, are all too familiar. Instead it examines the possibility of harnessing new technology — GPS, drones, analysis of Brady's photographs and 3D scanning of the landscape — perhaps finally to bring closure of sorts for Keith's family. (His mother, Winnie Johnson, was buried with his little spectacles — all that she had left of him.) Of course Brady was a calculating psychopath. It is quite possible he deliberately removed the pages to play mind games from the grave with those still seeking Keith's body, the last power card he had to play. Maybe they don't exist; maybe he destroyed them, relishing sending people on a wild goose chase after his death. But as someone said, this is a social matter now as much as a criminal one. This mystery needs to be solved and this child laid to rest, and if there is a chance these pages can help with that, then surely it's worth a shot. ★★★★☆ Love TV? Discover the best shows on Netflix, the best Prime Video TV shows, the best Disney+ shows, the best Apple TV+ shows, the best shows on BBC iPlayer, the best shows on Sky and Now, the , the best shows on Channel 4 streaming, the best shows on Paramount+ and our favourite hidden gem TV shows what to watch this week TV guide
Telegraph
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
‘My mind was filled with horror': This take on the Moors Murders is true crime at its best
Arriving in the middle of a deluge of true crime television – the worst offenders inevitably airing either on Netflix or Channel 5 – a new series about the Moors Murders raised obvious alarm bells. With tawdry documentarians surely running out of ways to retell the story of Fred and Rosemary West, were Ian Brady and Myra Hindley the next monsters from history to be repackaged into bingeing content? That may well yet prove the case – it's a wonder Netflix didn't go big on Brady and Hindley years ago. However, accusations of sensationalism cannot be levelled at journalist Duncan Staff or his serious-minded and diligently unsettling new two-part series, The Moors Murders: A Search for Justice (BBC Two). He quite correctly refused to add to the grisly mythology that has accumulated around Brady and Hindley, who murdered five children in and around Manchester between 1963 and 1965. His focus was instead on the victims, in particular 12-year-old Keith Bennett, the only one of the five whose place of burial remains undiscovered. Staff has dedicated much of his professional life to holding Bray and Hindley to account for their wickedness. He corresponded with Hindley in prison before she died in 2002, hoping she would reveal Bennett's final resting place. He also wrote a book about the subject, The Lost Boy, and made a film with forensic archaeologist John Hunter, in which the two unsuccessfully searched Saddleworth Moor along with Bennett's brother, Alan. A Search For Justice started with a new discovery – case files belonging to Brady and Hindley's defence team, which could potentially contain clues as to Bennett's ultimate fate. Staff was particularly invested in photographs taken by Brady of Saddleworth Moor that might indicate where he and Hindley had disposed of the body. 'People think, 'Oh, the Moor Murders, it's all in the past. The thing is done and dusted'. If you look at it, the case isn't closed,' he said. 'There have been so many missed opportunities. We can't let this be another one.' He shared his theories about the Brady photographs with Hunter – likewise haunted by their failure to bring closure to the Bennett family – and called on the expertise of cold case specialist and former police detective Martin Slevin. If the three shared a bleak bonhomie as they piled into a car and headed off for Saddleworth Moor, Staff was at pains to never portray the investigation as a bit of exciting derring-do. This was joyless work, as he was reminded when visiting the niece of another victim, Pauline Reade. Having presented Staff with a mug of tea, she politely but firmly criticised the lawyers for passing on the new files to a journalist. 'The evidence should come to the families,' she said. Humbled, Staff could only agree. Part one concluded with an unhappy outing to the moors by the three investigators, who attempted to cross-reference Brady's photographs to uncover Bennett's resting place. 'When I was asked to come back, my mind was filled with horror,' said Hunter. 'This is not a place I like.' It was a grim business, and the biggest compliment that can be paid A Search for Justice is that it evoked an unbearable dread from the outset. Netflix, take note: this was true crime done correctly, with a moral compass pointed always in the right direction.
The Independent
a day ago
- The Independent
Missing Brady pages could hold clues to victim's burial site, documentary claims
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.
Scottish Sun
a day ago
- Scottish Sun
I grilled Myra Hindley on where final Moors Murders victim is buried… could Brady's chilling secret memoir hold answer?
Photos found in the recently discovered case files point to an alternative location for the burial site to that previously given by the killers MOORS MYSTERY I grilled Myra Hindley on where final Moors Murders victim is buried… could Brady's chilling secret memoir hold answer? FOR 60 years the final resting place of 12-year-old Keith Bennett has remained a mystery - a tragic secret that vile killer Ian Brady took with him to the grave. Despite multiple searches, his body was never recovered and Keith's heartbroken mother Winnie Johnson died not being able to give her son a proper burial. Advertisement 13 Ian Brady and Myra Hindley achieved infamy in the 1960s as the Moors murderers after killing five children Credit: SWNS:South West News Service 13 Twelve-year-old Keith Bennett's body was never recovered Credit: PA 13 Brady's secret autobiography, along with case files found gathering dust in a solicitor's attic, could provide vital clues to the location of Keith's grave Credit: BBC But now, 60 years on, Brady's secret autobiography, along with case files found gathering dust in a solicitor's attic, could provide vital clues to the location of his grave. Keith was one of five children murdered by Brady and his accomplice Myra Hindley, who buried their bodies on Saddleworth Moor. Journalist Duncan Staff - who's worked on the case for years and even grilled Hindley in prison to see if she could pinpoint where Keith was buried - has discovered a partial manuscript written by Brady about the murders, along with the original defence case files for the murder trial. Brady's biographer, Dr Alan Keightley, wrote in his own book that Brady had written a 600 page autobiography called Black Light. Advertisement Dr Keightley died in 2023, but his widow Joan handed over his Brady files to Duncan - including his own copy of Black Light. The manuscript details how they selected the site for Pauline Reade's burial and gives specific information about the location. But it is only 394 pages long and stops the night before John Kilbride's murder -leading Duncan to believe the missing pages could detail Keith's murder and burial site. He says: 'I think it is incredibly frustrating for the families to know that Ian Brady has written an autobiography, Black Light, that is only surfacing now and the copy we have is incomplete. "So the pages that describe exactly where Keith Bennett is buried could be out there somewhere.' Advertisement In the hours before his death in 2017, Brady asked for locked suitcases to be removed from his cell and handed to his solicitor Robin Makin. The police and Keith Bennett's family have requested access to the paperwork inside, but this has been denied. Cops dig for Moors Murder victim Keith Bennett as 'skull' found 58 years after Ian Brady & Myra Hindley killing spree Duncan says: 'Ian Brady has been allowed to maintain control of this story even in death. 'Brady knew exactly what he was doing. It's absolute madness that the police haven't been able to look inside the suitcases.' Advertisement The findings are featured in a new BBC documentary, The Moors Murders: A Search for Justice, alongside the original case files for Hindley and Brady's defence. One of Brady's solicitors, Benedict Birnberg, died in 2023. His firm told Duncan that any material left with them had been sent to Brady's other solicitor Robin Makin, who also had Brady's suitcases. The BBC contacted Makin but he has not responded. Astonishing discovery 13 Ian Brady, right, pictured arriving at the courthouse in Hyde, Cheshire to be convicted of the Moors murders of five children Credit: 1965 AP Advertisement 13 Brady's biographer, Dr Alan Keightley, wrote in his own book that Brady had written a 600 page autobiography called Black Light Credit: Rex 13 Tragically Keith Bennett's mother Winnie Johnson died without ever knowing her son's final resting place Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd Duncan explains how he met Hindley in the 1990s when he started working on the case and quizzed her about her version of events. "I asked her where Keith Bennett is buried. I never got a clear answer. That's why, if I like it or not, I'm still working on the case all those years later," he says. Advertisement 'A lot of the paperwork disappeared after the trial of Myra Hindley and Ian Brady.' Duncan had tried to get access to transcripts from their trial for decades but the CPS told him they had been shredded. He says: 'When I was told that the original defence case files existed I went to look at the material and I was astonished by what I found. I asked her where Keith Bennett is buried. I never got a clear answer. That's why, if I like it or not, I'm still working on the case all those years later Duncan Staff "Notes written by Myra Hindley and photographs taken by Ian Brady, all put together by the defence team in the 1960s." Advertisement It was October 1965 that Saddleworth Moor in Oldham became a grisly household name. Edward Evans was the last of Hindley and Brady's victims - but the first to be discovered after Hindley's brother-in-law, David Smith, who witnessed the murder, called the police. Children had been going missing in the area for years - and the investigation into Edward Evans' death would lead police to the abduction and murders of John Kilbride, Lesley Anne Downey, Pauline Reade and Keith Bennett. Trophy photos taken by Brady of Hindley on the Moors would later help police find the tragic graves of John and Lesley Anne. Advertisement Hindley and Brady were charged with three murders - Edward Evans, John Kilbride and Lesley Anne Downey, as the other two bodies had not been found. They were convicted and sentenced to life sentences with a whole life tariff. But the case was reopened in 1985 after Brady was reported as having confessed to the murders of Pauline and Keith. Hindley stopped claiming her innocence in 1987 and confessed to all of the murders. Advertisement Brady and Hindley were taken separately to Saddleworth Moor to assist in the search for the graves. Information provided by Hindley helped police to find Pauline's body. But Keith's still remains on the moors. Troubling photo 13 A picture of Myra Hindley holding a puppy on a rock in the moor, in a very similar photograph to the one taken on John Kilbride's grave, troubled the team Credit: BBC 13 Winnie Johnson with her son Joey, then 23, digging on Saddleworth Moor in a bid to find the remains of her son Keith Bennett in 1988 Credit: Alamy Advertisement 13 Officers from Greater Manchester Police search Saddleworth Moor for the remains of the body of 12-year-old Keith Bennett in 2022 Credit: PA 13 An un-searched gas pipe on Saddleworth Moor Credit: BBC Hindley and Brady both maintained that Keith's body had been buried where two streams - Shiny Brook and Hoe Grane - met. Despite extensive searches by police, and forensic investigators working for the Bennett family, nothing was found. Advertisement But Duncan, forensic archaeologist John Hunter and retired detective Martin Slevin now think photos found in the recently discovered case files could be pointing in a different direction. John says: 'It also means that Brady and Hindley are complete liars and had taken us to the wrong place.' The team decided to focus on photographs found in the defence case files taken by Brady. It means that Brady and Hindley are complete liars and had taken us to the wrong place John Hunter There is one picture in particular that troubled the team - one of Myra Hindley holding a puppy on a rock in the moor, in a very similar photograph to the one taken on John Kilbride's grave. Advertisement In the background is a concrete gas pipe marker - leading the team to question whether this could also be marking Keith's grave. Retired detective Geoff Knupfer was one of the officers who worked on the case in the 80s. He said he raised the issue at the time. He says: 'There was a thought that these two children (Pauline and Keith) could have been disposed of in the trench of the pipeline and that enquiries they made would suggest it would be far too expensive to re-excavate it and check. 'I think a decision was taken at some level with the service or Home Office that enough was enough. Advertisement "These two people have been convicted of three murders, they have been sentenced to life imprisonment, the likelihood of them ever being released is remote indeed. "I don't want to criticise former colleagues too much, it is all well and good if it is not your children who are missing or your family involved in it.' The BBC team brought in modern technology including drones and GPS to the now 60-year-old case. And the findings cemented their belief that the area around the gas pipe marker warranted further investigation. Advertisement Duncan says: 'I believe the police should search the areas that Martin and John have identified, and we are going to hand all the evidence over to them. "But I don't think they are likely to search without an X marks the spot.' 'Lack of accountability' 13 Moors Murders victims John Kilbride and Pauline Reade 13 Maureen and David Smith - Myra Hindley's sister and brother-in-law - who denounced Hindley and Brady to the police after Edward Evans' murder Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd Advertisement Martin Slevin and Duncan also trawled through Brady's other materials to find any insight into his way of thinking and hopefully any information that could lead to Keith's grave. Martin says: 'We have got pretty much his whole music collection here, really eclectic mix. German marching songs, classical music, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.' Also included in the haul are press cuttings and media coverage of Hindley and Brady. Duncan says: 'He's living in the past, it matters to him. The murders mattered to him and possession of Keith Bennett matters to him, and he views himself as a superstar.' Advertisement They discovered a copy of Detective Chief Superintendent Peter Topping's book - the man who led the hunt for Keith and Pauline's bodies in the 1980s. In the chapters when DCS Topping detailed his interviews with Hindley, where she described not being able to hear Brady and Keith on the moors, Brady had made side notes saying: 'You could not keep her away, she enjoyed it.' Martin says: 'He's clearly saying that she was part, hands-on Keith Bennett's murder [sic]. That is the first time we have had a direct contradiction of that account.' Brady's living in the past, it matters to him. The murders mattered to him and possession of Keith Bennett matters to him, and he views himself as a superstar Duncan Staff Duncan says: 'And that means she was at the burial site.' Advertisement Martin adds: 'She would have known exactly where Keith Bennett is buried.' The police have had Hindley's maps of the area since 2001. But there is no complete record of where they have searched. Duncan: 'What has struck me about this case is the lack of accountability. "How no-one can be held responsible because police today can say those decisions were taken back in the Sixties, it was nothing to do with me, therefore I don't need to do anything. Advertisement 'But for the families there is this constant enduring pain. I think all of them are still impacted by the fact Keith is still missing, no matter which family it is, because they are all intertwined. "You can't divorce their stories.' Greater Manchester Police initially told the BBC they were interested to see their findings, but then changed its mind. In a statement to the BBC, GMP said its investigation remains open and it would 'continue to seek the answers the family deserve and will act upon any credible evidence". Advertisement 'There have been so many missed opportunities to find Keith, and we can't let this be another one,' says Duncan. 'We have to make sure that everything is done and that every effort is made to get hold of the missing pages of Black Light and to finally remove Ian Brady's control.' The Moors Murders: A Search for Justice is on BBC Two tonight (Wednesday 30 July). Both episodes are available on iPlayer now. 13 The search for Keith Bennet on Saddleworth Moor in 1992 Credit: BBC
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Telegraph
Moors murderer book could shed light on where he buried victim
Missing pages from an autobiography written by Ian Brady could hold new clues on where his final victim is buried. A new BBC documentary claims that the last 200 pages of the Moors murderer's unpublished manuscript may contain his account of 12-year-old Keith Bennett's murder and burial in 1964. The film, The Moors Murders – A Search For Justice, reveals that a copy of a secret autobiography found in the archive of the theologian who interviewed him stopped abruptly at page 394. It was at this point Brady was about to describe the murder of John Kilbride, his and Myra Hindley's second victim. Bennett's brother, Alan, who was kept informed of the discovery by documentary makers, has now called for any missing material to be made available to police, because it could contain 'vital information in regard to the search for Keith '. Brady and Hindley achieved infamy in the 1960s as the Moors murderers after burying four of their five young victims on Saddleworth Moor, north-east of Manchester. The pair were jailed in 1966 for torturing and killing three children, Lesley Ann Downey, 10, John Kilbride, 12, and Edward Evans, 17. Twenty-one years later they also confessed to murdering Pauline Reade, 16, and Bennett who they had been long suspected of killing Brady died in May 2017 aged 79, but the documentary claims pages from his manuscript are believed to have been deposited with his solicitor. Shortly after Brady's death, Alan Keightley, the theologian who interviewed him, published a book about the killer based on hours of interviews with him at Ashworth High Secure Hospital. Keightley died in 2023, but his widow Joan has given the documentary makers access to her husband's archive, including an incomplete copy of a typed manuscript titled 'Black Light'. Keightley wrote in his own book, The Untold Story of the Moors Murders, that Brady told him 'Black Light' was at least 600 pages long. However, the copy in his archive ends suddenly at page 394. The autobiography contains a detailed description of where the murderers buried their first victim, Reade. 'We counted the paces back to a rock on the knoll in order to be able to find the site and photograph it at a future date,' it reads. The new documentary by journalist and presenter Duncan Staff claims that if similar detail had been included for Bennett, it would provide vital information about where his body is buried. Keightley wrote in his book that Brady once asked him to deliver a 'double-sealed parcel', which he assumed contained the autobiography, to his solicitor Benedict Birnberg in London. Birnberg died in 2023 and his firm told the BBC that any material left with them had now been sent to Brady's other solicitor, Robin Makin, in Liverpool. The BBC approached Mr Makin to comment about whether he was in possession of the autobiography but said he did not respond. In the documentary, Mr Staff examines past investigations, rediscovered files and archives from the Moors murders case, to try and answer questions that have remained unanswered for nearly 60 years. Mr Staff said: 'This is the first time we've got an indication there might actually be something written down that describes where and how Keith was killed.' The documentary has also uncovered many of the original defence case papers from Brady and Hindley's trial, which have not been made public before. The files include interview logs, notes written by Hindley during police interviews, and photographs taken by Brady on Saddleworth Moor. During the initial police investigation, it was believed the photos contained clues and Hindley confirmed in interviews with Mr Staff in the 1990s that Brady had taken them to remember where the bodies were buried. In one shot, Hindley is seen crouching on a rock, cradling her dog, in an area known as Hollin Brown Knoll, which was later discovered to be the exact spot where Kilbride was buried. The bodies of Downey and, much later, Reade, were also found nearby. Prof John Hunter, a forensic archaeologist, tells the documentary that the significance of some of the other photos from Hollin Brown Knoll remains 'troubling'. In one, Hindley is standing on rocks, holding her dog with her pose completely obscuring a gas pipeline marker behind her. The newly discovered files show the marker's presence is revealed in a police photo that was taken at the same spot. Prof Hunter said these images may be important because there is no obvious connection to any of the known burial sites. The documentary also interviews families of the victims including Reade's niece who says that searches should have not been called off. 'They could have raised money, they could have done something,' Jackie said. 'There was no need for them to stop searching.' In a statement, Greater Manchester Police said: 'Greater Manchester Police has always remained committed to finding answers for Keith Bennett's family. Keith's family is central to any action we take in relation to this case and our thoughts remain with them. 'We will carefully consider and respond, in a timely and professional manner, to any credible evidence shared with us that may lead us towards finding Keith.'
