The body of Moors Murderer Ian Brady will not be released until assurances have been given that his ashes will not be scattered on Saddleworth Moor.
Senior coroner for Sefton Christopher Sumner made the announcement the day after the 79-year-old died at high security Ashworth Hospital.
Brady was jailed for life in 1966 along with his girlfriend Myra Hindley for abducting, abusing, torturing and killing five children in Manchester before burying them on nearby Saddleworth Moor.
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 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.
Brady’s lawyer Robin Makin told Radio 4’s Today programme he had seen his client around two hours before his death and they had discussed his legal wishes and arrangements for his funeral, but refused to give further details.
He said: “It was, I suppose, quite a moving sort of situation. I got a call that he wanted to see me, he was obviously well aware that his death was imminent.”
But Ian Hanson, chairman of the Greater Manchester Police Federation said Brady’s body should be disposed of “by the bin men.”
In comments reported by the Manchester Evening News, he said: “When somebody dies, it is natural in a civilised society that we show compassion. However, there are exceptions – and this monster is one of them.
“He had no right to breathe the same air as those decent and dignified relatives whom he tortured for decades by refusing to assist in the search for their loved ones.
“He now takes his place in hell and he can rot there. As far as I am concerned, Ashworth Hospital can leave him out for the bin men.”
It is not yet known what will become of Brady’s remains, though the child killer had reportedly revealed his wishes to be cremated and scattered in his native Glasgow in a letter to a pen pal.
Brady was jailed for life at Chester Assizes in 1966 for the murders of John, Lesley and Edward. Hindley was convicted of killing Lesley Ann and Edward and shielding Brady after John’s murder, and jailed for life. In 1987 the pair finally admitted killing Keith and Pauline. Hindley died in jail in 2002 aged 60.
Keith’s body has never been found, despite exhaustive searches of the barren landscape by the police, army and even using a US spy satellite.