The harrowing legacies of evil child killers Brady and Hindley

The ‘lost boy’, a briefcase of secrets – and Pauline’s body parts forgotten about by police and a university

The legacies of Ian Brady and his monstrous lover Myra Hindley horrify the world.

And still today the families of victims are haunted by the secrets the evil pair of child killers have left behind.

At least two of the secrets are twisted games played from beyond the grave by psychopath Brady.

Not least of course is the continuing search for Keith Bennett’s body on the bleak moors above Manchester, almost 60 years after he vanished.

Surely, this must be Brady and Hindley’s most prolonged and agonising legacy?

But we must not forget the agonies of the family of Pauline Reade who was 16 when she disappeared on her way to a disco.

Think of it, she disappeared on July 12, 1963. And only now her family might be finding some kind of peace.

Let’s be honest, the true horror of having parts of your daughter’s body found in a dusty storage room at a university more than half a century after her murder is unimaginable.

Alan Bennett had this to say about Pauline. In so many ways it is a message of positivity.

I have been in contact with Alan a handful of times, so I do not know him well. But I have no doubt Alan is a good and caring man despite the traumas the evil monsters left behind for him.

Alan wrote: “On this day ( July 1st ) in 1987 the body of Pauline Reade was discovered and brought off Saddleworth Moor, 24 years after Pauline had been murdered and buried on the moor by Brady and Hindley.

After being returned to her family Pauline’s mum, Joan, told us that ‘It was like a big dark cloud had been lifted off my shoulders.’ Joan found some small peace of mind eventually and the change in her life after Pauline was found was so very good to see.

I met Pauline’s immediate family and I can honestly say that Pauline’s mum, Joan, who I met and got hugs from on quite a few occasions, was one of the nicest, gentle and sincere people I have ever met.

Thinking of and remembering Pauline and her family today.”

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And we should not forget that 12-year-old John Kilbride was snatched in November the same year. He would have been 70 now but died after being sexually abused and strangled.

Hindley and Brady buried beneath the howling winds and curtains of rain which dominate Saddleworth Moor, on the outskirts of Greater Manchester.

Pauline was the first to die.

And decades later it was the emergence from the moorlands peat of a once-white stiletto shoe that finally brought her home. As the shoe was found Greater Manchester Police knew they had found her shallow grave.

But the legacy of Brady’s cruelty continued because of the bureaucracy of investigation.

More than 30 years after Pauline’s remains were uncovered, the shoes she was wearing and her broken necklace were returned to her family. Police also had her metal chain belt, a piece of material from her dress, a safety pin, a number of buttons and a press stud.

The return of these small and cheap personal items was the second shock in months for her relatives …

Parts of Pauline had been kept by police without her family’s knowledge. After decades an audit had taken place and her jawbone and some of her hair. were found at Leeds University.

This legacy meant planning a second funeral for the teenager at Gorton cemetery.

Greater Manchester Police apologised and said at the time: “Pauline and the other Moors Murders victims are ever present in our minds and Greater Manchester Police will always do everything we can to support their relatives and honour their memory.”

Martin Bottomley, head of GMP’s Cold Case Unit also said: “This is a deeply sensitive matter and understandably it has caused some upset with the family however, we felt contacting them was the right thing to do and we have given them a number of options, all of which GMP will pay for.”

Meanwhile, we wait for Priti Patel’s new access to justice Bill to finally arrive. It could finally force Liverpool solicitor Robin Makin to open two briefcases entrusted to him by Brady just before he died.

It is possible the briefcases, kept securely in storage, could contain clues to where the body of Keith is buried.

John Ainley, senior partner at North Ainley solicitors, in Oldham who is working with Alan Bennett to reveal the secrets of Brady’s suitcases, said: “We have been hoping for a change in the law so police have wider powers to obtain documents that belonged to Ian Brady and may contain information to help find the whereabouts of Keith’s body.

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“There are two briefcases of particular interest containing papers which belonging to Ian Brady and now held by his executors but despite several requests to view the contents, access has not been granted.”

We should never forget these names, names forever linked with true horror:

Pauline Reade

John Kilbride

Keith Bennett

Lesley Ann Downey

Edward Evans

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