Her father was an alcoholic who was frequently violent towards his wife and children. [104] The proceedings continued before three magistrates in Hyde over an eleven-day period during December, at the end of which the pair were committed for trial at Chester Assizes.[35][105]. Childkiller Myra Hindley was a b*tch and I slapped her for singing, says 'Black Widow' Keith Bennett, 12, was on his way to his grandmother's house on June 16, 1964, when Hindley enticed him. [130], On 3 July 1985, DCS Topping visited Brady, then being held at HM Prison Gartree in Leicestershire, but found him "scornful of any suggestion that he had confessed to more murders". [56] Despite a huge search, she was not found. [177] The November 2007 death of John Straffen, who had spent 55 years in prison for murdering three children, meant that Brady became the longest-serving prisoner in England and Wales. [86] She refused to make any statement about Evans's death beyond claiming it had been an accident, and was allowed to go home on the condition that she return the next day. [147] Hindley confirmed to police that the two areas in which they were concentrating their searchHollin Brown Knoll and Hoe Grainwere correct, although she was unable to locate either of the graves. Since her daughter's death, she had campaigned to ensure that Hindley remained in prison, and doctors said that the stress had contributed to the severity of her illness. She died in 2002 in West Suffolk Hospital, aged 60, after serving 36 years in prison. [27] Hindley took weekly judo lessons at a local school, but found partners reluctant to train with her, as she was often slow to release her grip. Deciding to "better himself", he obtained a set of instruction manuals on book-keeping from a local public library, with which he "astonished" his parents by studying alone in his room for hours. As the death penalty for murder had been abolished while Brady and Hindley were held on remand, the judge passed the only sentence that the law allowed: life imprisonment. [100], The investigating officers suspected Brady and Hindley of murdering other missing children and teenagers who had disappeared from areas in and around Manchester over the previous few years, and the search for bodies continued after the discovery of Kilbride's body, but with winter setting in it was called off in November. Wearing a bread deliveryman's overall on top of his uniform, he asked Hindley at the back door if her husband was home. [187] He was therefore force-fed and transferred to another hospital for tests after he fell ill.[188] Brady recovered and in March 2000 asked for a judicial review of the legality of the decision to force-feed him, but was refused permission. The phrase "Hindley wakes and Hindley says; Hindley wakes, Hindley wakes . The show was picketed by the. Hindley returned with Smith and told him to wait outside for her signal, a flashing light. [201] He was cremated without a ceremony, and his ashes disposed of at sea during the night. Brady and Hindley became friendly with Patricia Hodges, an 11-year-old girl who lived at 12Wardle Brook Avenue. [219] Hindley's release seemed imminent and plans were made by supporters for her to be given a new identity. She was in the car, over the brow of the hill, in the bathroom and even, in the case of the Evans murder, in the kitchen"; he felt he "had witnessed a great performance rather than a genuine confession". [14] Released on 14 November 1957, Brady returned to Manchester, where he took a labouring job which he hated, and was dismissed from another job in a brewery. Despite dating other people, Brady was always the man she wanted to be with, so the fascination was incredible. Characterised by the press as "the most evil woman in Britain",[1] Hindley made several appeals against her life sentence, claiming she was a reformed woman and no longer a danger to society, but was never released. It would never have been possible to carry out such a search in private. Myra Hindley, July 23, Myra Hindley was born 23rd July 1942, to Bob and Nellie Hindley, She was born in Crumpsall, in the United Kingdom, and grew up in Gorton which was part of Manchester. [140] DCS Topping continued to visit Hindley in prison, along with her solicitor Michael Fisher and her spiritual counsellor, Peter Timms, who had been a prison governor before becoming a Methodist minister. The following morning Brady and Hindley drove Downey's body to Saddleworth Moor,[74] and buried hernaked with her clothes at her feetin a shallow grave.[75]. [228][229] The Manchester Evening News reported on possible fears that this would result in visitors choosing to avoid or vandalise the park. In 1987, Hindley again became the center of media attention, with the public release of her full confession, in which she admitted her involvement in all five murders. [35][40][a] Although Hindley was not a qualified driver (she passed her test on 7 November 1963 after failing three times),[43] she often hired a van, in which the couple planned bank robberies. [121], The sixteen-minute tape recording[97][c] of Downey, on which the voices of Brady and Hindley were audible, was played in open court. One such victim was Stephen Jennings, a three-year-old West Yorkshire boy who was last seen alive in December 1962; his body was found buried in a field in 1988, but the following year his father, William Jennings, was found guilty of his murder. [d][182], During several years of interactions with forensic psychologist Chris Cowley, including face-to-face meetings,[183] Brady told him of an "aesthetic fascination [he had] with guns",[184] despite his never having used one to kill. Child killer Myra Hindley accused fellow Moors Murderer Ian Brady of drugging, raping and beating her. In partnership with Ian Brady, she committed the rapes and murders of five small children. [232] During the trial, Maureeneight months pregnantwas attacked in the lift of the building in which she and Smith lived. [99] They made a two-minute appearance on 28 October, and were again remanded into custody. Ian was standing over him, facing him, with his legs on either side of the young lad's legs. [215] She rejected the idea and in early 1998 was moved to the medium-security HM Prison Highpoint;[216] the House of Lords ruling left open the possibility of later freedom. When Myra was young, her father beat her up regularly, but he also trained her how to battle. [177] By that time Hindley claimed to be a reformed Catholic. The victims were children between the ages of 10 and 17, boys and girls. [34] Brady then gave her reading material and the pair spent their work lunch breaks reading aloud to one another from accounts of Nazi atrocities. [13] He was sent to Latchmere House in London,[12] and then Hatfield borstal in the West Riding of Yorkshire. [84] Hindley denied there had been any violence, and allowed police to look around the house. On 11 October, she too was arrested and taken into custody, being charged as an accessory to the murder of Evans and was remanded at HM Prison Risley. Police found no one who had seen Reade before her disappearance, and although the 15-year-old Smith was questioned by police, he was cleared of any involvement in her death.[49]. [68] When Hindley asked Brady whether he had raped Reade, Brady replied, "Of course I did." Moors Murderer Ian Brady refused to say what . Bob served in a parachute regiment during World War II so was absent for the majority of the first three years of Hindley's life. [32] (Many sources state that the film was Judgment at Nuremberg, but Hindley recalled it as King of Kings. [50] Hindley hired a vehicle a week after Kilbride went missing, and again on 21 December, apparently to make sure the burial sites at Saddleworth Moor had not been disturbed. He arrived home around 3:00a.m. and asked his wife to make a cup of tea, which he drank before vomiting and telling her what he had witnessed. [174] He spent nineteen years in mainstream prisons before being diagnosed as a psychopath in November 1985 and sent to the high-security Park Lane Hospital, now Ashworth Hospital, in Maghull, Merseyside;[175] he made it clear that he never wanted to be released. Hindley's 17-year-old brother-in-law tipped off the police about her crimes. [246][247], In 1977, a BBC television debate discussed arguments for and against Hindley's release, with Lord Longford, a Catholic convert, on the side who argued that she should be released, and Downey's mother arguing against her release and threatening to kill her were the release to occur. Brady and Hindley killed five children - Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, Lesley Ann Downey and Edward Evans all aged between 10 and 17, and at least four of whom were sexually. The prosecution's opening statement was held in camera rather than in open court,[103] and the defence asked for a similar stipulation but was refused. Hindley and her solicitor left Cookham Wood at 4:30am, flew to the moor by helicopter from an airfield near Maidstone, and then were driven, and walked, around the area until 3:00pm. [112][113], Smith was the chief prosecution witness. "[133], Police visited Hindley then being held in HM Prison Cookham Wood in Kent a few days after she received the letter, and although she refused to admit any involvement in the killings, she agreed to help by looking at photographs and maps to try to identify spots she had visited with Brady. For Hindley, this demonstrated a marked change from her earlier, more shy and prudish nature.[45]. [88] Brady told police that he and Evans had fought, but insisted that he and Smith had murdered Evans and that Hindley had "only done what she had been told". [35], In 1985, Brady allegedly told Fred Harrison, a journalist working for The Sunday People, that he had killed Reade and Bennett,[126] something the police already suspected as both lived near Brady and Hindley and had disappeared at about the same time as Kilbride and Downey. She was born and raised in Manchester's Gorton, a working-class community. [120] Hindley denied any knowledge that the photographs of Saddleworth Moor found by police had been taken near the graves of their victims. Myra and Ian tortured and murdered five children between 1963 and 1965 and the series shines a light on some of the never-previously-seen prison letters between the killers. I don't think anything could hurt me more than this has. The lad was still screaming Ian had a hatchet in his hand he was holding it above his head and he hit the lad on the left side of his head with the hatchet. She was convicted, along with her accomplice Ian Brady, of murdering five children between July 1963 and October 1965 . Photo: Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images, Idaho Murders: What Led Police to Bryan Kohberger, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads, Name: Myra Hindley, Birth Year: 1942, Birth date: July 23, 1942, Birth City: Manchester, Birth Country: England. 1 Comments. [38] The couple were regulars at the library, borrowing books on philosophy, as well as crime and torture. [180] In one letter, written in 2005, Brady claimed that the murders were "merely an existential exercise of just over a year, which was concluded in December 1964". Stewart had little support and after a few months was forced to give her son into the care of Mary and John Sloan, a local couple with four children of their own. [164] Donations from the public funded a search by volunteers from a Welsh search and rescue team in 2010. On the afternoon of Boxing Day, 1964, 10-year-old Lesley Ann Downey disappeared from a local fairground. The newlyweds moved into Smith's father's house. She said that she saw no possibility of release, and also exonerated Smith from any part in the murders other than that of Evans. The child had been earning some pocket money in the market, and was offered a lift home by Hindley. [154] Brady was taken to the moor a second time on 8 December, and claimed to have located Bennett's burial site,[155][156] but the body was never found. [135] Home Secretary Douglas Hurd agreed with DCS Topping that a visit would be worth risking despite security problems presented by threats against Hindley. [8], Brady's behaviour worsened at Shawlands; as a teenager he twice appeared before a juvenile court for housebreaking. Hindley claimed that when Downey was being undressed she herself was "downstairs"; when the pornographic photographs were taken she was "looking out the window"; and that when Downey was being strangled she "was running a bath". In 1980, Maureen suffered a brain haemorrhage; Hindley was allowed to visit her in hospital, but arrived an hour after her death. [146] Hindley made her second visit to the moor in March 1987. "[210][211], In 1987, Hindley admitted that the plea for parole she had submitted to the Home Secretary eight years earlier was "on the whole a pack of lies",[212] and to some reporters her co-operation in the searches on Saddleworth Moor "appeared a cynical gesture aimed at ingratiating herself to the parole authorities". . [265], The book The Loathsome Couple by Edward Gorey (Mead, 1977) was inspired by the Moors murders. She was found guilty of three murders and was jailed for life. Brady was sentenced to three concurrent life sentences and Hindley was given two, plus a concurrent seven-year term for harbouring Brady in the knowledge that he had murdered Kilbride. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Keith Bennett Her subsequent applications for parole were denied. She was only a toddler when her young mother, Mary, left home, married again, and began to raise a new family. She stayed overnight in Manchester, at the flat of the police chief in charge of GMP training at Sedgley Park, Prestwich, and visited the moor twice. During the 1990s, Hindley claimed that she took part in the killings only because Brady had drugged her, was blackmailing her with pornographic pictures he had taken of her, and had threatened to kill Maureen. She took up a collection for a wreath; his funeral was held at St Francis's Monastery in Gorton Lane. The 14-year-old girl had suffered a turbulent childhood. They were both jailed for life. All Rights Reserved. [128] Jennifer Tighe, a 14-year-old girl who disappeared from an Oldham children's home in December 1964, was mentioned in the press some forty years later but was confirmed by police to be alive. [220] Home Secretary David Blunkett ordered the GMP to find new charges against Hindley to prevent her release from prison. By 2 December, Brady had been charged with the murders of Kilbride, Downey and Evans. He called Brady "wicked beyond belief" and said he saw no reasonable possibility of reform for him, though he did not think the same necessarily true of Hindley once "removed from [Brady's] influence". [202][203], Hindley lodged an unsuccessful appeal against her conviction immediately after the trial. I heard the blow, it was a terrible hard blow, it sounded horrible. Brady later claimed that he had picked up Evans for a sexual encounter. Brady returned alone after about thirty minutes, and took Hindley to the spot where Reade lay dying; Reade's clothes were in disarray and she had been nearly decapitated[67] by two cuts to the throat, including a four-inch incision across her voice box "inflicted with considerable force" and into which the collar of her coat and a throat chain had been pushed. [255], In November 2017 it was revealed that, without the knowledge of her family, some of the remains of Pauline Reade, including her jaw bone, had been kept at the University of Leeds by Greater Manchester Police. Biography and associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the US and other countries around the globe. [185] In 1999, his right wrist was broken in what he claimed was an "hour-long, unprovoked attack" by staff. The investigation was reopened in 1985 after Brady was reported as having confessed to the murders of Reade and Bennett. In July 1963, they claimed their first victim, Pauline Reade. [109] Onlookers some travelling for hours would stand outside Chester Assizes every day during the trial. Moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are known to have killed at least five child victims. The pair were charged only for the murders of Kilbride, Downey and Evans, and received life sentences under a whole life tariff. [106] Hindley wrote to her mother: I feel as though my heart's been torn to pieces. [87] Over the next four days Hindley visited her employer and asked to be dismissed so that she would be eligible for unemployment benefits. The victims were five childrenPauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, Lesley Ann Downey, and Edward Evansaged between 10 and 17, at least four of whom were sexually assaulted. In February 1964, she bought a second-hand Austin Traveller, but soon after traded it for a Mini van. Brady was diagnosed as a psychopath in 1985 and confined in the high-security Ashworth Hospital. The Lord Chief Justice agreed with that recommendation in 1982, but in January 1985 Home Secretary Leon Brittan increased her tariff to thirty years. Hindley began to emulate an ideal of Aryan perfection, bleaching her hair blonde and applying thick crimson lipstick. The only consolation is that some moron might have got hold of Puppet and hurt him. (1942-2002) Who Was Myra Hindley? Nine months later, he began working as a butcher's messenger boy. Best Known For: Myra Hindley was a serial killer of small children, murders she committed in partnership with boyfriend Ian Brady. How many children did Ian Brady and Myra Hindley kill? Then I heard Myra shout, "Dave, help him," very loud. I have had enough. The two talked about society, the distribution of wealth, and the possibility of robbing a bank. [264] Tabloid newspapers branded him a "loony" and a "do-gooder" for supporting Hindley, whom they described as evil. Even on her death bed, Hindley refused to give . Hindley later claimed that she waited in the van while Brady took Reade onto the moor. Almost 20 years after being sent to prison, he confessed to killing two more. The excursion caused a furore in the national press and earned Wing an official rebuke from the then-Home Secretary Robert Carr. [209] In February 1985, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher told Brittan that his proposed minimum sentences of thirty years for Hindley and forty years for Brady were too short, saying, "I do not think that either of these prisoners should ever be released from custody. [191], According to Cowley, Brady regretted Hindley's imprisonment and the consequences of their actions, but not necessarily the crimes themselves. They approached her and deliberately dropped some shopping they were carrying, then asked her for help in taking the packages to their car, and then to Wardle Brook Avenue. [204] She corresponded with Brady by letter until 1971, when she ended their relationship. [69], In the early evening of 23 November 1963, at a market in Ashton-under-Lyne, Brady and Hindley offered 12-year-old John Kilbride a lift home, saying his parents might worry that he was out so late; they also promised him a bottle of sherry. The murders were the result of what Malcolm MacCulloch, professor of forensic psychiatry at Cardiff University, described as a "concatenation of circumstances". The BAFTA-winning actor was fresh from shooting a scene when he walked across a . In 1961, she met Ian Brady, a stock clerk who was recently released from prison. Hindley led him into the living room, where Brady was lying on a divan, writing to his employer about his ankle injury. She burst into tears and ran to her father, who threatened to "leather" her if she did not retaliate; Hindley found the boy and knocked him down with a series of punches. [129] This followed claims in 2004 that Hindley had told another inmate that she and Brady had murdered a sixth victim, a teenage girl. In November 1986, Bennett's mother wrote to Hindley begging to know what had happened to her son, a letter that Hindley seemed to be "genuinely moved" by.