Ian Brady, a mass murderer who sexually tortured his young victims before killing them, died on Monday.
Brady, along with his accomplice Myra Hindley, was found guilty of killing five children between the ages of 10-17 in the 60s. He was 79 when he died in high security Ashworth Hospital in Merseyside, suffering from cancer and emphysema.
Brady and Hindley became known as the Moors Murderers after the bodies of four of their victims were found on Manchester’s Saddleworth Moors. The body of their last victim, Keith Bennett, has never been located.
Pauline Reade
Pauline was on her way to a disco on July 12, 1963, when a smiling Hindley pulled over, offering her a lift. Pauline, who knew Hindley’s younger sister Maureen, climbed in, unaware that Brady was following close by on a motorbike.
Hindley soon stopped the van and asked the 16-year-old to help her look for a missing glove on Saddleworth Moor. Brady explained his appearance by claiming he too had come to look for the lost item.
Brady is said to have led Pauline onto the moors where he sexually abused her and then cut her throat. The couple buried the teenager on the moors, passing her mother on their drive back, who was out looking for her missing daughter.
Pauline’s body was not found until 1987, when the pair finally admitted murdering her.
John Kilbride
The 12-year-old was lured to his death when Hindley asked him to help her carry boxes to her car in November 1963.
Brady, who could not drive, was waiting in the back seat of the vehicle. John was sexually assaulted, killed and buried on the moor, with Hindley posing for a “trophy” photograph above his shallow grave.
Upon hearing of Brady’s death, John’s brother Terry Kilbride, said he hoped the killer “rots in hell”.
Speaking to the Sun, he added: “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.
“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.”
Keith Bennett
Twelve-year-old Keith was abducted on his way to visit his grandmother in Manchester on June 16 1964.
Hindley lured the boy into her van, with the pair allegedly driving to a lay-by on the moors. Brady sexually assaulted and strangled Keith while Hindley kept watch.
In 1986, the pair admitted killing Keith and Pauline and were separately taken back to the moor to help police find the remains of the missing victims. However, only Pauline’s body was found.
Keith’s mother Winnie Johnson, died of cancer five years ago still not knowing where her son is buried, despite years of campaigning to give him a Christian burial. Numerous efforts have been made to locate Keith’s remains have been made in the past, by the police, army and even using a US spy satellite, but to no avail.
Lesley Ann Downey
The couple’s youngest victim, Lesley was just ten when she was lured away from a funfair on Boxing Day 1964.
Police found photographs of the naked girl, along with tape recordings of her final moments in which she pleaded for her life as she was abused.
The recordings of Lesley screaming and begging to go home to her Mummy were played to a horrified jury in a Chester courtroom. Lesley was also heard crying that her neck hurt, panicking that she could not breathe and begging: “Please God, why? What are you going to do with me?”
Former police chief John Stalker told the Mirror: “When the 16-minute tape was played at the police station before the trial, I saw senior detectives and legendary crime reporters – hard men who had been through the war and seen terrible things – dissolve into tears.”
Lesley’s brother Terry West said: “I poured myself a glass of wine when I found out [that Brady had died] – we’ve been waiting for this day for such a long time. It’s closure for our family.
“But I really feel for Keith Bennett’s brother Alan and the rest of his family – this probably means they’ll never know where his body was buried.
“He’s taken it to the grave. There’s still one poor kiddie up there on the Moors. My heart goes out to Alan – at least I’ve got somewhere that I can visit our Les, he hasn’t even got that. What Brady did will never be forgotten – it’s had such an effect on all our lives.
“I had to protect my children when they were growing up, I wouldn’t let them play out in the street.”
Edward Evans
On 6 October 1965, teenager Edward Evans was struck 14 times with a hatchet by Brady, who then strangled him.
Evans, an engineer by trade, had been lured home by Brady, who had spotted him in a gay bar some months earlier. The men were driven home by Hindley, whom Brady described as “my sister.”
His death ultimately led to the pair being caught after Hindley’s brother-in-law David Smith phoned the police, having witnessed the murder.
It is believed the couple had been attempting to recruit Smith, a petty criminal with convictions of his own, into their circle.
Officers found Evans’ body in the couple’s bedroom, along with Brady’s books on perversion and sadism.
Brady was jailed for life at Chester Assizes in 1966 for the murders of John, Lesley and Edward.
Hindley was convicted of killing Lesley 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 prison in 2002.