Chilling insights into the mind of Moors Murderer Ian Brady have been revealed via a series of letters written from his cell at Ashworth Hospital.
The 78-year-old, who is being force-fed against his wishes after going on hunger strike in 1999, has been held at the psychiatric unit since 1985.
In letters to a friend seen exclusively by The Sun, Brady, who with his girlfriend Myra Hindley killed five children during the 60s, expresses his apparent admiration for suicide bombers and appears enthusiastic about the prospect of Britain being hit by another terrorist attack.
He wrote: “I’m glad I’ve lived to see an enemy prepared to die for something other than their bank balance.”
Of the possibility of the UK being targeted by jihadists he said: “I sincerely hope it is. The bigger the better.”
The 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of coordinated terror attacks which targeted civilians using public transport during the morning rush hour. A total of 52 people lost their lives.
This week Brady was the subject of heightened speculation after his legal heir and confidante Dr Alan Keightley claimed he had revealed to him where the body of 12-year-old Keith Bennett lies.
Keith was one of five children aged between 10-17 who were killed by Brady and Hindley. Of the victims Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Lesley Ann Downey and Edward Evans, Keith’s is the only body which has never been found.
Despite pleas from Keith’s mother Winnie Johnson, who died in 2012, they never revealed what they had done with his body.
Now Dr Keightley says he has specific information as to where the remains are buried on Manchester’s Saddleworth Moor, which he says he will publish in a book about Brady after his death.
Brady, who lost a legal bid to be transferred to a jail in 1985 on the grounds that he is mentally insane, also wrote at length about his bitterness at being incarcerated at the hospital.
But while he expressed nothing but distain for the staff and most of the inmates at Ashworth Hospital, he did show some admiration for its more notorious inmates.
“Knew Ronnie Kray at Durham in the Sixties, also train robbers Buster Edwards, Bruce Reynolds,” he wrote.
He added: “I mixed with the Krays and the Train Robbers in the Special Security wing. People only know them as lurid headlines – in reality they are more alive and intelligent than the majority of people.”
Of Reggie Kray, he said: “They refused to release Reggie Kray for political purposes.
“If the tabloids heap you with publicity in this prehistoric country, the spineless politicians jump like lapdogs, greedy for popular votes.”
Kray was officially released from prison on 26 August 2000 by Home Secretary Jack Straw because of his poor health.
He died in his sleep in October after a battle with bladder cancer.
Hindley was convicted of two of the murders and shielding Brady after another murder, and given a life sentence. She died in jail in 2002 aged 60.
In 2014 Brady’s mental health advocate Jackie Powell said she believed he was showing signs of dementia.