Keith Bennett could be retired and a grandpa today. He would be 70… but Brady and Hindley stole him away

Here his brother, Alan, talks succinctly and movingly about the horrifying tragedy that has blighted so many lives, just like his

How a barber’s shop conversation about the loss of Keith helped lift brother’s battered spirits …

They say that on the streets of Manchester you are never more than six feet away from a rat … well, Brady and Hindley weren’t rats, they were pure evil. And even now, dead as they are they still send a shiver down the spine of this city.

Brady and Hindley took to their graves the moorland location of Keith Bennett’s body. He may never be found.

In a moving piece written by Keith’s brother, Alan, he reveals his feelings and he has given the Preservation Society the right to reproduce it:

Alan writes: “I have been going to the same barber for many years now and I went again yesterday. It was very quiet, just one man already on one of the chairs and I sat down on the one next to him.

All normal so far and I expected the usual conversation about football, the weather, politics, health etc. The bloke that was already there left so there was just me and the two barbers.

“Alan, after all these years I had no idea until I saw an article in the media the other day.” I was taken by surprise a little bit, ”m so sorry about Keith and my condolences to you, those evil bastards should never have been allowed to live.”

I knew I had some explaining to do, “That David Smith was some character as well.”

The next 10 minutes were spent in a sort of question and answer session.
Along the lines of answering to the questions he asked: if they had been hanged we would never have known where to search for Keith, although I understand your reaction; a detailed description of where and when Keith was taken; my age and Keith’s age at the time; the horror of realising Keith had not turned up at my gran’s house and the aftermath; the barber having met mam in the past when there used to be a ladies hairdressers there; the fact D Smith never socialised with Brady and Hindley until after Keith was taken and the way he was led to witness the death of Edward Evans; where mam had last seen Keith after crossing Stockport road at the zebra crossing; where Hindley could have been parked as Keith crossed their path; the actions of Brady’s inhumane solicitor and the locked cases; the search of the moor and anything else the barber could think of before the next customer entered the shop and things returned to normal…

Time for me to go but not before getting a man-hug on the way out and another, ‘I’m so sorry about what happened, take care and see you again soon,’ from the barber.

The other customer sat on the chair, looking on through the refection in the mirror, must have been wondering what was going on.

I know things will never be quite the anonymous same for me next time I go there but, once again, I had seen the care and compassion for Keith and his family and I felt my spirits lifted once again by that.

However, I was also left wondering how too many people with the power and clout to do something more for Keith failed him time after time when we really needed them and we still do.

The passing years have been a mixture of emotions, frustrations, disbelief, witnessing so much pain and tears, anger and so many other bad things.

The thing that keeps us going is the care, love, compassion and genuine feelings for Keith shown by so many of the ‘average’ people over the years.

I’m not sure if I have expressed my thoughts as I meant to here but I’m hoping anybody reading this will understand how much more those ‘average’ people mean to me as compared to the faceless people in power that need constantly reminding of the ongoing struggle we face and the need we have for their help and not just their ‘Understanding.’

Sorry for rambling but I had to try to express the feelings I was left with after just a normal and regular visit to the barbers.”

TAGS: #moorsmurdershorror #moors #murders #keithbennnet #saddleworth #myra #hindley #brady