Moors murderer Ian Brady has been secretly cremated and his ashes buried at sea in the middle of the night, it has been revealed.
The notorious child killer, who died aged 79 on May 15 this year, was cremated without ceremony in Southport on Wednesday, October 25.
He was placed on a weighted biodegradable urn, before being driven to Liverpool Marina and dispatched at sea the following day at 2.30am, court documents reveal.
There were fears that his remains would be scattered on Saddleworth Moor, where four of his victims were buried.
Shortly after his death it was announced by senior coroner for Sefton Christopher Sumner that Brady’s body would not be released until assurances had been given that his ashes would not be scattered on Saddleworth Moor.
Brady’s executor, Robin Makin, had said there was “no likelihood” that Brady’s ashes would be spread there, but the High Court judge ruled that the decision should be taken out of Makin’s hands.
Earlier this month a judge at the High Court in London ruled the killer’s body must be disposed of with “no music and no ceremony”.
The order effectively denied Brady of his last request.
Brady’s body was collected from the mortuary at Royal Liverpool hospital by a Tameside council official on October 25.
The corpse was taken, under police escort, to Southport Crematorium, where the cremation began at 10pm exactly. No music or flowers were allowed.
The Moors murderer died at Ashworth high security hospital in Maghull, Merseyside.
An inquest into Brady’s death heard he died of natural causes. The Home Office pathologist Dr Brian Rodgers said the cause of death was cor pulmonale, a form of heart failure, secondary to bronchopneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or lung disease.
The court heard Brady, who was a heavy smoker up until the smoking ban, had “very severely diseased” lungs.
In a statement, Tameside and Oldham councils said: “We are pleased that this matter is now concluded and we are grateful for the support and professionalism shown … to ensure Ian Stewart-Brady’s body and remains were disposed of expediently at sea in a manner compatible with the public interest and those of the victims’ relatives.”
Brady and Myra Hindley, who died in prison in 2002, tortured and murdered five children in the 1960s.
Four of the victims were buried on Saddleworth Moor in the south Pennines.
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.
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.
Brady was jailed for three murders in 1966. He and Hindley later confessed to another two murders.