MurderousMinds
MurderousMinds takes a deep dive into the dark world of serial killers. Each episode features an in depth analysis of some of history's most notorious murderers. We examine the impact these crimes have had on families and communities, as we attempt to gain a better understanding of what drives these individuals to do what they do. Narrated by Top5s, from the popular YouTube channel Top5s, join us as we make sense of why these individuals committed such brutal acts and discover what drives them, here on the MurderousMinds podcast.
MurderousMinds
The Twisted Minds of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley: The Moors Murders | MurdeorusMinds Podcast
This episode exposes the grim saga of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, the notorious Moors murderers. We trace Brady's steps from his early life in Glasgow, a childhood marred by neglect and petty crime, to his eventual descent into evil alongside his partner, Hindley.
We pry open the twisted relationship that fueled their horrifying deeds, revealing how shared obsessions led to the devastating murders of innocent victims like Pauline Reade and Edward Evans. Our exploration takes us into the heart of their meticulously planned crimes, the shocking involvement of Hindley's brother-in-law, David Smith, and the gruesome reality of the Moors murder trial and investigation. Uncover how the aftermath of their reign of terror unfolded, from Brady's arrest and Hindley's dismissal from Milwoods, to the compelling evidence pointing towards their repeated atrocities.
Join us as we dissect the trial, the subsequent developments, and the enduring enigma surrounding these infamous killers. We shed light on the controversial actions of key witness David Smith, the dynamics of the trial's prosecution and defense, and the media frenzy that ensued. Delving into Brady's post-trial life, we share his futile attempts at remorse and the continuing search for victim Keith Bennett's body. As we conclude, we grapple with the difficult questions of Hindley's involvement, Brady's thirst for notoriety, and the grim possibility of more forgotten victims. This haunting tale is a stark reminder of the monstrous depths of human depravity.
From murderers to money launderers, thieves to thugs – police officers from the...
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Thank you for tuning in to MurderousMinds, the chilling true crime podcast that delves deep into the darkest minds. Join us as we explore the captivating stories of notorious killers, analyze their motives, and unravel the mysteries behind their heinous acts. Stay connected with us on Patreon for updates, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes insights. Remember, listener discretion is advised.
Welcome to Murderous Minds, a documentary series started by the Top 5's YouTube channel back in 2018, dedicated to exploring the twisted minds of serial killers. The following podcast episode is the audio version of our video series over on the Top 5's Patreon page. If you would like to watch the video instead of just listening, and would also like to support our show, then please head on over to Patreon using the link in the show notes. Thank you for joining, and now let's take a journey into the minds of murderers. When Meek and Shy 18 year old Myra Hindley took a job with a wholesale chemical company named Milwods in January of 1961, she had no idea that the trajectory of her life was about to change drastically. She became infatuated with her co-worker, Ian Brady, and was soon drawn into his dark world of torture, perversion and horror. Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are two of the most well known and vicious serial killers in British history, but the murderous couple's deaths left behind numerous unanswered questions who were Ian Brady and Myra Hindley and what drove them to kill? We aim to answer these questions and more as we take a deep dive into the life and crimes of the Mores murderers.
Speaker 1:Ian Brady was born Ian Duncan Stewart, on January 2, 1938 in Glasgow, Scotland. While the identity of his biological father is unclear, Brady's mother, Margaret Peggy Stewart, was a tea room waitress who had her son out of wedlock. She claimed that Brady's father was a newspaper reporter who passed away three months prior to his son's birth. Without the financial aid of her husband and with little in the way of a support system, Peggy struggled to care for her newborn. As a result, she was forced to give him up. He was raised by a local couple, Mary and John Sloan, who already had four children of their own. Upon joining the Sloan family, Brady adopted their surname. Throughout his childhood, his mother continued to visit him. Records of Brady's childhood and teen years suggest that while he had behavioural problems and quickly entered a life of petty crime, he did not have the usual hallmarks of a serial killer. He was not abused, was never involved in arson, and he has denied ever engaging in acts of violence with animals. He told Dr Chris Crowley in his book Face to Face with Evil Conversations with Ian Brady that as a child in World War II, I explored a bombed-out church in the Gorgals and came across a small bird lying in the ruins.
Speaker 1:I quietly approached it to avoid alarming it. Near enough to see it was apparently breathing and asleep, I reached out to hold it. Suddenly, something subconscious froze my movement. As I stood and watched its breast rise and fall, I identified the sweet smell of potrescence and gingerly touched the bird with my shoe. It was a vessel of smithing maggots. My first lesson in the deception of nature and life Discussed gave way to pity and I built a tomb around it with bricks. I assumed that gave rise to the stereotypical fable that I once buried a cat alive Still.
Speaker 1:Many tabloid newspapers report that Brady killed animals and set classmates on fire, though their sources are unknown. Around the age of nine, Brady accompanied the Sloan family on a trip to Loch Lomond where he discovered the joy and freedom of the outdoors. A few months later, he and the Sloans moved to a new council house on an over-spill estate at Pog, Glasgow and he enrolled at Shorelands Academy, a secondary school for above-average pupils. As a teenager, however, Brady's behaviour took a turn. At the age of 15, he dropped out of school, having appeared twice before the juvenile court for housebreaking. He then spent some time working as a tea boy at the Harland and Wolfe Shipyard in Govan before taking a job as a butcher's messenger boy Around. The same time he was placed in a remand home but was later court for another minor offence and was placed on probation. According to some reports, he had nine charges against him when he appeared in court this time around, and his probation conditions included that he be sent to live with his biological mother, who is now residing in Manchester, England. Reportedly, in Glasgow Brady had had a girlfriend, but the relationship ended when he threatened her with a flick knife after she danced with another boy. This is one of Brady's most notable moments of violence as a teenager In Manchester, Brady found his mother had married an Irish fruit merchant named Patrick Brady and he adopted his new stepfather's surname.
Speaker 1:Patrick was also able to secure Brady a job as a fruit porter in Smithsfield Market, but within a year of moving to Manchester he was caught with a sack of lead seals he'd stolen and was trying to smuggle out to the market. While speaking again with Dr Crowley, Brady recalled I had my short, sharp shock in 1955. Strangeways opened my eyes and I opened library books, recruiting and organising For his crime. Brady spent three months in Strangeways, an adult prison, although he was not yet 18. He then spent time in Latchmore House in London, a POW camp that had previously been used to detain German prisoners during the war, and Hatfield Borstel, located in Yorkshire. This was then followed up by Brady serving time in Hull Prison after he was discovered drunk on the alcohol he brewed. Hull was known to be an extremely tough prison at that time, and people were still executed there during the 1950s. He was reportedly shown the gallows, but it didn't instill fear into him, as perhaps the authorities would have liked it to, but he appeared to take it as a threat. In the words of Dr Crowley. He responded with a clear desire to get them. Before they got him, Brady was released from prison on November 14, 1957. He subsequently returned to Manchester and took up a labouring job, but quickly discovered that he hated it. He was also dismissed as an employee at another brewery.
Speaker 1:As Duncan Staff wrote in his book the Lost Boy, Brady began to collect books in order to better himself, but he didn't just pick up any old fictional novels. He gathered a set of bookkeeping and instruction manuals, which he studied alone in his room for hours on end. He used books to build a world of his own. He appeared to enjoy learning and studying viewpoints that he may have never examined before reading books such as Teach Yourself German and Mein Kampf, as well as several others on the atrocities carried out by the Nazis. In January of 1959, he applied for a job at Millwards, a wholesale chemical distribution company based in the area of Gort and Manchester. He successfully got the job and was regarded by his colleagues as quiet and punctual, but they also noted his short temper. Two years later, 18-year-old Myra Hindley joined Millwards.
Speaker 1:Myra was born on July 23, 1942, in the Manchester suburb of Crumbsall, to Nellie and Bob Hindley. She was raised in Gorton, which was then known as a working-class area of the city containing Victorian slum housing. Her father, Bob, was a violent alcoholic, and along with the family's lack of wealth, it gave way to a childhood of abuse and difficulty. Their home was in terrible condition, and Hindley often slept in a single bed next to her parents. When her sister, Maureen, was born in August of 1946, things grew even worse. The family couldn't continue to look after both children, nor did they have the room for both siblings, and so Hindley was sent to live with her grandmother when she was five years old.
Speaker 1:Hindley's relationship with her father was a stressful one. Bob had served in the Parachute Regiment during the war, which saw him being stationed in North Africa, Cyprus and Italy. A tough man lacking in emotional intelligence, he expected his children to be as resilient as he was, teaching Hindley to fight and insisting that she always stick up for herself. When she was eight years old, a local boy scratched Hindley's cheeks, causing her to bleed. She burst into tears and ran to her father, simply threatened to leather her if she didn't retaliate. Hindley tracked down the local boy who'd hurt her and hit him repeatedly, knocking him to the ground. Malcolm McColloch, professor of forensic psychiatry at Cardiff University, stated that her relationship with her father brutalized her, adding she was not only used to violence in the home, but rewarded for it outside. When this happens at a young age, it can distort a person's reaction to such situations for life.
Speaker 1:Another point of trauma for young Hindley occurred in 1957, when she was fifteen years old. One of her closest friends, thirteen-year-old Michael Higgins, invited her to go swimming with a group of mutual friends at a local disused reservoir. But a day that was meant to be full of fun and laughter became a nightmare when Michael drowned. Hindley, a strong swimmer, blamed herself for what had happened and felt guilty that she was unable to save him. His funeral reported he had a lasting effect on her. It was howled at St Francis' Monastery in Gorton Lane, the same place where Hindley was baptized as a child. While not strictly raised as a Catholic, Hindley's father had been insistent that she was baptized as a baby. Her mother nearly agreed on the condition that she not be sent to Catholic school, believing she would only be taught about religious instructions there. Still, Hindley was drawn to the Roman Catholic Church as she grew older and began to attend Ride of Brow secondary modern school in Gorton and took comfort in it. Following the demise of her friend After Michael's funeral, she began taking instruction for formal reception into the church and received her first communion in November of 1958.
Speaker 1:Some sources have stated that Hindley became fascinated with death as she got older and would study sites that would make others turn away in disgust, such as injured animals or people. Although it appears that she never inflicted the damage herself, it's possible this interest developed on the back of Michael's demise. A school friend of hers recalled she had no empathy for anyone else. If somebody heard themselves, it wouldn't upset her. According to crime and investigation, at some point during her teens Hindley's father suffered a stroke and became crudely towards her mother as a result. An infuriated Hindley would attack and humiliate him in the same way he had done to her as a child.
Speaker 1:His first job was as a junior clerk at a local electrical engineering firm, where she would run errands, make tea and type here. She was popular and well liked, so much so that when she lost her first pay packet, the other girls of the firm took up a collection to replace it. Furthermore, at 17, Hindley had her first relationship. However, it ended only after a few months when she decided that the young man was immature and unable to give her the life she wanted. In the meantime, she attended weekly judo lessons but found that people were reluctant to partner with her as she was incredibly tough and often slow to release her grip. She then left the engineering firm and took a job at Bratbury and Hinchcliffe, a machinery manufacturer, but was dismissed after six months due to repeated absences. She reportedly considered following in her father's footsteps by joining the army or the navy, and even thought about leaving the country altogether and heading across the pond to the US, which he never did, opting to pick up a mundane clerical position in a hometown instead.
Speaker 1:In January of 1961, Hidney began working at Millwards as a typist, Despite being aware of his criminal record. She became attracted to Brady almost immediately. She appeared to enjoy his sophistication and that he was unlike any of the other men she'd ever met. Shortly after she began working at Millwards, she began to keep a diary which essentially tracked her obsession with Brady. She spoke to him for the first time on July 27th. Then, to her surprise, on December 22nd, Brady asked Hidney out to the cinema. During the subsequent dates which followed, the pair went to the cinema, often to see an X-rated film, then returned to Hidney's home to drink German wine, a lavish drink at the time for two working class individuals. Hidney was still, at the time, living with her grandmother. She also began to give Hidney books to read, and on their lunch breaks they would read out loud to one another from tomes about Nazi cruelty.
Speaker 1:Over the next few months, Hidney began to transform herself into the ideal Aryan woman bleaching her dark hair, bright blonde and wearing red lipstick. She became surely and secretive. She also began to dress differently, favouring short skirts, high boots and leather jackets, becoming a version of herself that no one around her recognised. She was a far cry now from the mild mannered, shy girl who'd started at Millwoods in 1961. She'd moulded herself into Brady's dream woman, but things weren't so glittering and gleaming beyond the surface.
Speaker 1:Hidney was concerned about some of Brady's behaviour. In a letter to a childhood friend, she'd documented the time when he reportedly drugged her and sexually abused her while she was unconscious. A few months later, Hidney requested that her friend destroy the letter she'd sent writing about her obsession with Brady to the parole board in 1978 and 1979. Hidney stated within months he had convinced me that there was no God at all. He could have told me that the earth was flat, the moon was made of green cheese and the sun rose in the west. I would have believed him, Such was his power of persuasion. Some reports on the couple's crimes and Hidney's life referred to her as being brainwashed by Brady.
Speaker 1:In the months after they began dating, both Brady and Hidney became markedly less sociable. They frequented the library, borrowing books on crime, torture and philosophy, as well as reading works by Friedrich Nietzsche, Marquez de Saive a French nobleman who wrote about violent and cruel sexual fantasies and Fyodor Doskievsky. They frequently discussed the idea of and made plans to rob banks, and Hidney even got her driver's license so she could be the getaway driver, but their plots never came to fruition. Furthermore, Hidney befriended the president of the Schiedahl Rifle Club, George Clithero, and on several occasions they'd visit the shooting ranges together. Clithero was reportedly puzzled by Hidney's interesting guns but arranged for her to purchase a.22 caliber rifle from a gun merchant. She then asked to join the pistol club but was rejected because she was a poor shot and often bad tempered. Still, she managed to secure two more guns from club members, including a Webley 45 and Smith Wesson 38.
Speaker 1:Brady and Hidney were also known to enjoy photography. He already owned a boxed brownie camera which he used to capture images of Hidney and her dog Puppet, but he upgraded to a more advanced model and also purchased dark room gear and lighting equipment. The couple soon moved in together, with Brady joining Hidney and her grandmother in their home in Banach Street In the summer of 1963, the couple's relationship and lives changed forever when Brady began to talk about the perfect murder. She often spoke to Hidney about the 1956 book Compulsion, written by May 11. The novel is a fictionalized version of the crime committed by Nathan Leppard Jr and Richard Leop during the 1920s. Leopold and Leop were two wealthy university students who kidnapped and murdered 14-year-old Bobby Franks in Chicago in May of 1924. They felt that their plot would show their intellectual superiority, which enabled them to carry out the so-called perfect crime without consequences. Both men were sentenced to life in prison plus 99 years. Loab was murdered in prison by an inmate in 1936, while Leopold was released for parole in 1958. While Hidney was obsessed with Brady, Brady was obsessed with nothing but the idea of the perfect murder. That same year Hidney published A On July 12th 1967,.
Speaker 1:Having spoken about Brady's desire for the perfect murder, the couple made a plan of action. Brady instructed Hindley to hire a van and she drove it around the streets of Manchester, with Brady on his Triumph Tiger Cub motorbike falling behind, looking for his ideal victim. When he spotted one, he would flash his headlights. The couple drove down Gorton Lane and Brady signalled Hindley when he spotted an eight-year-old girl out alone. But Hindley recognised the child as a neighbour of her mother's and so she kept driving. Sometime after 7.30pm, however, they spotted 16-year-old Pauline Reed as she walked down Froxmere Street on her way to a local dance. Hindley slowed her vehicle and asked Pauline if she wanted a lift. The teenager accepted In the van. Hindley then asked Pauline if she would first help her look for an expensive glove she'd lost in Saddleworth Moor. And again the teenager, a trustingly older woman, agreed.
Speaker 1:Hindley would later make conflicting statements about who really picked out their victim, but also stated that she felt there'd be less attention on the disappearance of a 16-year-old than an eight-year-old. Notably, Pauline had attended school with Hindley's younger sister, Maureen. Pauline and Hindley arrived at the Moor and Brady pulled up behind them. Hindley reassured Pauline that he was just helping them look for the glove too, but upon his arrival Brady took the teenager and went off to a hidden and secluded spot with her, while Hindley waited in the van. He returned alone after 30 minutes and took his girlfriend to the spot where Pauline lay dying, her clothes in disarray. The wounds to her throat included a four-inch incision across her voice box which had almost decapitated her. The four-inch injury had been inflicted with considerable force. Her necklace and the collar of her coat had been pushed into the wound. When Hindley asked Brady if he'd raped Pauline, he replied with of course I did. Following Pauline's demise, Hindley waited with the body while Brady went to retrieve a shovel he'd stashed nearby on one of the couple's previous trips to the area. While he buried the body. Hindley returned to the van. While she later denied being actively involved in the rape and murder of Pauline, Brady would argue that she participated in the sexual assault.
Speaker 1:Shortly after she went missing, a police investigation was launched, although it made little progress. Nobody had seen Pauline around the time of her disappearance. Her boyfriend, 15-year-old David Smith, was a prime suspect in her case for some time due to his past criminal convictions, including actual bodily harm and housebreaking. His first crime was wounding with intent, which occurred when he was just 11 years old. However, David was later cleared of involvement.
Speaker 1:For several months Hindley and Brady laid low following Pauline's murder. Then, on the evening of November 23rd, they struck again. They spotted 12-year-old John Kilbride out of market in the town of Ashton Underline and offered him a lift home, stating that his parents might worry when he was out so late. They also promised him a bottle of sherry. Once inside Hindley's hired Ford Anglia, Brady said they would need to take a detour to their home on Banach Street for the sherry. As they got closer to this location, however, he suggested yet another detour for Hindley's missing glove on the moor At Saddleworth Moor. Brady took John and headed off to a quiet, isolated spot away from Hindley. While she waited in the vehicle, Brady sexually assaulted John and attempted to slit his throat with a 6-inch serrated blade before strangling him with either a string or a shoelace.
Speaker 1:Following John's disappearance, an extensive search for him took place. Over 700 statements were taken by the police and 500 missing posters were printed and issued. Eight days after he vanished, 2,000 volunteers scoured derelict buildings and wasteland looking for the missing child. Hindley reportedly hired a van on December 21st, roughly a month after John's demise, to make sure the burial sites of both he and Pauline had not been disturbed. The couple's next victim was 12-year-old Keith Bennett. In the early evening of June 16th 1964, Hindley asked Keith for his help in loading some boxes into a vehicle, telling him she would drive him home afterwards. The young boy was walking to his grandmother's house in Longsite, Manchester. He agreed to help her and afterwards Hindley drove him to the mall. Brady, who was in the back of the van, took Keith to look for Hindley's lost glove. Like the previous murders, Brady returned alone 30 minutes later, clutching a shovel. He told Hindley that he'd sexually assaulted and strangled Keith using a piece of string.
Speaker 1:The investigation into Keith's disappearance, like the others, was relatively short-lived. His stepfather, Jimmy Johnson, became a suspect and was taken in for questioning. Four times over the course of the next two years. Detectives searched underneath the floorboards in the family home looking for Keith's remains, but discovered instead that the entire row of houses was connected underneath. This led them to scour the entire street for the missing 12-year-old, but their attempts to locate him were fruitless.
Speaker 1:Two months later, on August 15th, Hindley's sister, Maureen, married David Smith, the same David Smith who'd been dating Pauline Reed at the time of her disappearance. The couple's marriage was swiftly arranged and took place at a registration office. As Maureen was already seven months pregnant, the Hindleys did not attend the ceremony. Myra did not approve of the marriage, while their mother was ashamed that Maureen had gotten pregnant outside of wedlock. After they were married, the pair moved in with David's father. Just one day later, Brady suggested he, David and the two sisters go to Windsor for the day. This was Brady and David's first time meeting one another, and they seemed to hit it off. Brady was impressed with David's demeanor, while David paid for his brother-in-law's food and drinks during the trip as they discussed society, socialism and the possibility of robbing a bank. It was the first of many group trips, and while Myra became closer to Maureen, she became wary and somewhat jealous of David's relationship with Brady.
Speaker 1:Shortly afterwards, Brady Hindley and her grandmother were rehoused as part of the post-war slum clearances in Manchester and they moved into her home at 16 Wardlebrook Avenue in the overspill estate of Hatterstley, Cheshire. Here they became friendly with an 11-year-old girl who lived nearby, Patricia Hodges, who regularly accompanied the couple on their trips to Saddleworth Moor where they collected peat. This was a common occurrence for people living on the estate at the time, because the pre-existing garden soil was full of clay and builders' rubble and the peat helped to improve it. Patricia was never harmed during the couple's killing spree, likely because she lived nearby and was known to spend time with them, which would make it easy for the police to link her disappearance back to them. It was December 26th 1964, when the couple went out to look for their next victim. 11-year-old Leslie Ann Downey was alone at a fun fair at Angcoats, an area of Manchester. The couple approached the young girl and deliberately dropped some of their shopping in front of her, before asking her for help in taking it to their car and then in their home. Earlier that day Hidney had taken her grandmother to a relative's home and made her stay overnight, refusing to let her back into her residence At their home on Wardlebrook Avenue. Leslie was stripped, gagged and forcibly posed for photos before she was sexually assaulted and murdered. The next morning the couple took the 10-year-old's body to the moors and buried her in a shallow grave. Despite an extensive search for her by police, no trace of Leslie was found in the following months. The day after her demise, Hidney's grandmother was allowed back onto the property.
Speaker 1:By February of 1965, Patricia Hodges had stopped visiting, but the couple was still close with Hidney's sister and brother-in-law. David regularly visited the pair at Wardlebrook Avenue and he maintained a good relationship with Brady, who gave him books to read and discussed murder, robbery and other crimes with him Around the time of Hidney's 23rd birthday. In the summer of 1965, Marina and David were rehoused to a block of flats in Underwood Court close to Wardlebrook Avenue. As a result, they became even closer and spent even more time together, although when they met up it was generally on Brady's terms. Hidney and Brady's final victim was 17-year-old Edward Evans, who perished on October 6th 1965. Hidney drove Brady to the Manchester Central Railway Station so he could scout out a victim. He reappeared with Edward, an apprentice engineer from the District of Ardwick, and introduced Hidney. As his sister, Brady would later claim he had picked Edward up for a consensual sexual encounter. He and Hidney drove Edward home and they shared a bottle of wine. Brady gave Hidney's grandmother a sleeping pill so she wouldn't stir through the next part of the evening. Later on, Brady sent Hidney to fetch David, who is now 17. Hidney, despite being concerned about their relationship as she felt it would compromise the couple's safety, did as she was told and returned with her brother-in-law in tow.
Speaker 1:When later speaking with the police, David recalled I waited about a minute or two. Then suddenly I heard a hallover scream. It sounded like a woman, really high-pitched. Then the screams carried on, one after another, really loud. Then I heard Myra shout David, help him. Very loud.
Speaker 1:When I ran in I just stood inside the living room and saw a young lad. He was lying with his head and shoulders on the couch and his legs were on the floor. He was facing upwards. Ian was standing over him, facing him with his legs on either side of the young lad's arms. 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. I heard the blow. It was a terrible, hard blow. It sounded horrible. Afterwards he watched Brady strangle Edward to death with a length of electrical cord. During the struggle Brady sprained his ankle and Edward's body was too heavy for David to carry alone, so they wrapped him in plastic and placed him in the spare room on the promise that Hindley's brother-in-law would return the next day with his baby's pram, which they would use to place the body in the car so it could be disposed of in the moors. But David would never keep his promise.
Speaker 1:Following the murder, David returned home. It was about 3am by the time he arrived and his wife, Maureen, offered to make him a cup of tea. He drank it before vomiting and he subsequently told Maureen what he'd witnessed that night. He waited up until daylight broke and at 6am he left his house to go to a phone box on the estate where he called Hyde police station and told Maureen.
Speaker 1:At the events of the previous night, Superintendent Robert Talbert of Stalybridge police division went to the Hindley's residence in the company of a detective sergeant. He went to the back door of the house and asked Hindley if her husband was home. She replied that she had no husband and then led the officer into the living room where Brady was writing to his employer about his ankle injury. Talbert explained that he was investigating an act of violence involving guns which had occurred one night earlier and looked around the house. The police asked to get into the spare room, which was locked, but Hindley claimed the key was at her workplace. When the officers offered to go and collect it, Brady told her to hand the key over to the police, and so she did.
Speaker 1:When the officers returned, they arrested Brady on suspicion of murder. Though he argued Eddie and I had a row and the situation got out of hand, However, the officers didn't believe him and brought him in for interrogation. Brady claimed that he and Edward had fought and then he and David killed Edward. He also stated that Hindley had only done what she'd been told. Hindley, meanwhile, was not arrested right away. However, she demanded that she be allowed to go with Brady to the station and brought her dog Puppet with her. She refused to make any statements about Edward's death, Beyond claiming that it had just been an accident, and she was allowed home later that day on the condition. She returned to the station the following morning. During the next four days, Hindley visited Milwoods and asked to be dismissed so that she could collect unemployment benefits. While there she found an envelope lying to Brady, which she burned in an astray. She later claimed that she didn't open it but believed it contained plans for a bank robbery.
Speaker 1:On October 11th, Hindley was arrested, taken into custody and charged as an accessory to the murder of Edward Evans. She was remanded at HM Prison Risely. Investigators first began to suspect that the couple had more than one victim when they began searching their house on Wardlebrook Avenue and came across a notebook containing the name John Kilbride. They turned their attention back to David, who told them that Brady had asked for anything back that may incriminate him, including the numerous books on controversial topics like murder and torture. He then packed the items into a suitcase. David, however, had no idea where Brady had taken the suitcases afterwards, although he noted that his brother-in-law had a thing about railway stations.
Speaker 1:On October 15th, the authorities headed to the railway station and discovered that the left luggage office had Brady's suitcases. They had found the claim ticket inside Hindley's prayer book. Inside one case they discovered nine pornographic photos taken of Leslie Downey, as well as a 16 minute audio tape recording of a girl screaming, crying and begging to be allowed to go home to her mother. Both Hindley's and Brady's voices were also clearly audible on the tape. While looking for further information on Hindley and Brady, law enforcement officers came across their neighbour, Patricia Hodges, who is now 12. She told them that she had been taken to Saddleworth more on several occasions, and she was able to point out the couple's favourite areas to the authorities. This helped them narrow down the locations where they should look for evidence, and on the 16th they discovered an arm bone protruding from the ground. It was originally believed to be John Kilbrides, but it was in fact Leslie Downey's. Her body was still identifiable, and her mother recognised her clothing, which had been bundled in her grave at her feet.
Speaker 1:Searching further through Brady's suitcases, police officers also uncovered images of certain locations on the moors. David Smith told the police that his brother-in-law had boasted of photographic proof of several slayings, and so investigators believed that these photos were of burial grounds, and they asked for help from locals familiar with the land in identifying these spots. On October 21st, authorities found the body of 12-year-old John Kilbride. That same day, Hindley and Brady appeared at Hyde Magistrates Court, they were both charged with Leslie's demise and brought in separately from one another. They were then each remanded into custody for a week. Seven days later they made a two-minute appearance in court again and once more were remanded into custody.
Speaker 1:Meanwhile, investigators suspected that the couple was involved in more than three disappearances, but searches were called off following the discovery of John Kilbride's remains, since it was almost November and the weather conditions were worsening. When confronted with the existence of the photographs of Leslie, Brady said he took the images but that she had been brought to his house and taken away again by two unidentified men. He claimed the 10-year-old was alive when the men took her. By December 2nd, Brady had been charged with the murder of John, Leslie and Edward. Hindley was charged with the murders of Leslie and Edward and as an accessory to murder. In the case of John Kilbride, At their committal hearing the murder charges stayed the same for both parties, but Hindley was not charged with accessory to murder. Instead she was charged with harboring Brady with the knowledge that he killed John Over an 11-day period. The proceedings continued before three magistrates. At the end of the hearing the pair were committed for trial At Chester, as Isis.
Speaker 1:In the lead up to the trial, the police decided that Puppet, Hennie's dog, should be examined so that they could ascertain his age, as many of the photos taken on the Moors featured Puppet, sometimes as a puppy, they felt knowing his age would help them determine when the images were taken. However, Puppet was put under general anesthetic for the examination and he did not reawaken. Hennie was furious and accused the police of murdering her dog. Investigators noted that it was the first time they'd seen her truly upset. In a letter to her mother, Hennie documented her heartbreak over her deceased canine companion, writing I feel as though my heart's been torn to pieces. I don't think anything could hurt me more than this has. The only consolation is that some moron might have got hold of Puppet and hurt him.
Speaker 1:The trial began on April 19th 1966 and lasted 14 days. Security screens were fitted to protect Brady and Hennie, and they were both defended by experienced attorneys. Attorney General Sir Alwyn Jones led the prosecution, while Justice Fenton Atkinson ruled over the trial. David Smith was the prosecution's key witness. Shortly before the trial took place, David sold his story to the news of the world for the moderate equivalent of £20,000, with an agreement that he would be paid more in the future. He was paid £15 a week up until the trial and a £1,000 lump sum if his sister-in-law and her boyfriend were found guilty. While David was questioned about this deal by the judge and the defense, it was decided by the judge that the money had not substantially affected his testimony. It remained the same as the initial statements he'd given to the police, although Judge Atkinson ruled the paper's action as gross interference with the cause of justice. Both Hennie and Brady entered pleas of not guilty. While Brady testified for around eight hours, Hennie testified for six.
Speaker 1:During the trial, Brady admitted he struck Edward with an axe, but he claimed someone else killed him, noting that the pathologist concluded Edward's death accelerated by strangulation. However, this caused the jury to see him as arrogant and pedantic. Hennie, for her part, denied knowing that the images found in the suitcase had been taken at or near the graves of the couple's victims. When confronted with the audio tape featuring her voice along with Brady's and Leslie's, Hennie admitted that her attitude towards the 10-year-old had been brusque and cruel, but claimed it was only because she was afraid the child's screaming would attract attention. She then claimed that when Leslie was undressed, she was downstairs when the pictures were being taken of her, she was looking at the window, and when Leslie was being strangled, Hennie was running a path. Neither Brady nor Hennie would admit that it was Leslie's voice on the tape, and so the police had to ask her mother to identify it, forcing her to listen to her daughter's last tormented moments.
Speaker 1:On May 6th 1966, the jury deliberated for a little over two hours before concluding that both Brady and Hennie were guilty of all charges. Since the death penalty had been abolished, they were both sentenced to life behind bars per murder. Brady would have to serve three life sentences, while Hennie would serve two plus seven years for harboring Brady in the knowledge that he'd murdered John Kilbride. Brady was sent to HM Prison Durham, a Category B men's prison, to fulfill his sentence, while Hennie was sent to HM Prison Holloway, an establishment for women and young offenders located in London, which is now closed. At the end of their trial, Justice Fenton Adkinson described them both as two sadistic killers of the utmost depravity and recommended they spend a very long time in prison before being considered for parole. He saw no possibility of Brady being rehabilitated, but felt Hennie would have a chance when she was out from under the thumb of her boyfriend stating Though I believe Brady is wicked beyond belief, without hope of redemption, I cannot feel the same is necessarily true of Hennie once she is removed from his influence. She was later described as a quiet, controlled, impassive witness who lied remorsesily, Following their convictions.
Speaker 1:The media continued to try and link Hennie and Brady to other disappearances and unsolved murders. The newspaper suggested that the murderous couple was responsible for the disappearance of Stephen Jennings, a three-year-old boy who vanished from West Yorkshire in December of 1962. His body was discovered in a field in 1988, and his own father was convicted of the crime. The media became even more suspicious when, in 2004, a rumour spread that Hennie had confessed to the murder of a sixth victim, a teenage girl. This caused the press to suspect that the child in question was 14-year-old Jennifer Teige, who vanished from an old home children's home in the winter of 1964. But the police laid this story to rest by confirming that Jennifer Teige was alive and well. According to Jean Richie in her book Myra Hennie Inside the Mind of a Murderous, In 1985, Brady told journalist Fred Harrison that he had also killed Pauline Reed and Keith Bennett.
Speaker 1:The police had already suspected this because both children had lived near the couple and had vanished around the time that the other crimes had taken place. In return, he wanted to be moved to a secure hospital and he wanted to make sure Hennie would never get out of prison. As a result of this confession, the Greater Manchester Police reopened the investigation and it was led by Detective Chief Superintendent Peter Topping and DI Geof Knupfer. Topping's first move was to visit Brady, who is now residing in Gartree Prison in Leicestershire, on July 3rd 1985. Reportedly, the serial killer was scornful of any suggestion that he confessed to more murders. It was not a surprise to anybody that Brady refused to cooperate. He was an emotionalist, cruel and bitter man who showed no remorse for what he'd done to any of his victims. Still, the police began a fresh search of Saddleworth Moore for any further bodies that were yet to be found.
Speaker 1:Over a year later, in November of 1986, Winnie Johnson, the mother of Keith Bennett, wrote to Myra Hennie, who is now in HMP Cookham Wood in Kent, begging to know the truth about what happened to her son and pleading to know where his body was buried. Upon reading the letter, Hennie was reportedly genuinely moved. Part of Winnie's letter read I am a simple woman. I work in the kitchens of Christie's Hospital. It has taken me five weeks labour to write this letter, because it is so important to me that it's understood by you For what it is a plea for help. Please, Miss Hennie, help me.
Speaker 1:A few days passed before Topping decided to visit Hennie, who is now 64 years old. She refused to admit her involvement in the slayings but agreed to try and help identify the spots that she'd visited with Brady. Topping was quite cynical of Hennie's motivations to help the authorities, believing that she was concerned her former partner might cooperate with the police first and win public favour. Still, it was agreed that a visit to the Moors with Hindley would be valuable and outweighed the risk that somebody may target her while she was out of prison. So on December 16th she visited the Moor. The road into it had been closed off and the area was patrolled by 200 officers, some of whom were carrying weapons. Hennie apparently had difficulty connecting the areas of Saddleworth Moor to her memories and was unable to provide the police with any useful information, leading to the media labelling the situation as a fiasco publicity stunt and a mindless waste of money. David Smith, now 38, was also brought in to help identify areas of the Moor worth investigating. He spent four hours doing so.
Speaker 1:Meanwhile, Topping continued to visit Hennie in prison. On February 10th 1987, she formally confessed to her involvement in all five killings. Everything, however, was not impressed by it. Noting he was struck by the fact that, in Hennie's tallying, she was never there when the killings took place. 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 also added that he felt he had witnessed a great performance rather than a genuine confession.
Speaker 1:Following her admission, the police visited Brady, who did not believe it when they told him what had happened. It wasn't until they told him a few details about Pauline's death that he realised that they were telling the truth. He told them that he too would confess, as long as they provided him with the means of taking his own life afterwards. Of course, the police refused, and so Brady declined to admit to anything. After a second letter from Winnie Johnson, Hennie made another attempt at helping the police by visiting the Moor. The levels of security used were greatly increased this time around. While she was unable to specifically locate the graves of Keith and Pauline, she indicated that the two areas in which police were searching were correct.
Speaker 1:In the spring and summer of 1987, interest in the searches began to wind down. Still using a memory Hennie had of being able to see the rocks of an area of the Moor named Holland Brown Knoll while Pauline was being buried, investigators were able to refine the area in which they were searching. On July 1st they finally uncovered the teens' remains. Following this discovery, Brady made a formal confession to DCS Topping. He too made a trip to the Moor, having announced to the press that he wished to help the authorities with their investigation. But Brady quickly became lost on the Moor and was removed from the scene. Due to the press who had gathered, he was not given another chance to help investigators and search for Keith's body was called off on August 24th.
Speaker 1:In her statement to the press following her confession, Hennie discussed her religious experiences in prison, the letters she'd received from Winnie Johnson and the reason why she had for so long denied her guilt. Brady, however, seemed to thrive on the attention he received. After making his own statement, he wrote a letter to a news reporter working for the BBC, claiming that he'd killed five more people, including two people in Scotland and a woman whose body he dumped in a canal, but the police were never able to find any evidence of these crimes or reports about bodies that matched what he describes, and so an official investigation was never launched. Hennie made it clear that she was not connected with and had no knowledge of these crimes. If they had truly taken place. Neither party was convicted further for the additional murders of Pauline Reed or Keith Bennett, since they were already serving life behind bars. Throughout the early and mid-2000s, searches were conducted again by the police, who hoped to find Keith Bennett's body once and for all, but it has never been located. In 2012, there was speculation that Brady had given a female visit to the location, and she was subsequently arrested on suspicion of preventing the burial of a body without a lawful excuse. However, the CPS announced that there was insufficient evidence to press charges, and the case was dropped. Furthermore, in 2017, the authorities requested that two locked briefcases owned by Brady be opened. They felt the cases may contain clues to Keith's whereabouts. However, this request was denied on the grounds that no prosecution was likely to occur.
Speaker 1:In HMP Durham, Brady asked to live in solitary confinement. He spent 19 years in prison until November of 1985, when he was diagnosed as a psychopath and subsequently moved to Ashworth Hospital in Merseyside, a high-security hospital for prisoners. He reportedly made it clear that he never wanted to be released and nobody, including judges and home secretaries, disagreed with this notion. Throughout his time at Ashworth Hospital, he refused to cooperate with his psychiatrists. He sometimes wrote to journalists and novelists and once claimed that he and Hindley planned to stop murdering after 1964. They had, according to him, been plotting to carry out armed robberies and he'd begun to obtain weapons for this very reason.
Speaker 1:Brady also told Dr Crowley that he hated Ashworth and he whined about the conditions of the hospital. In 1999, his wrist was broken and he blamed it on the staff. He subsequently went on hunger strike and was force-fed, later being moved to another hospital before recovering. He claimed the hospital had no right to force-feed him and later stated Myra gets the potentially fatal brain condition Whilst I have to fight simply to die. I've had enough. I want nothing. My objective is to die and release myself from this once and for all. So you see, my death strike is rational and problematic. I am only sorry I didn't do it decades ago. I am eager to leave this cest pet any coffin.
Speaker 1:Dr Crowley claimed that Brady regretted getting caught, but not the murders themselves. He reportedly saw no point in making a public apology, but tried to express remorse through actions. He spent his time incarcerated transcribing classical text into Braille and once offered to donate his kidneys to somebody anyone who needed one but was obstructed from doing so. Writer Colin Wilson, whom Brady exchanged letters with, claimed it was because these attempts to express remorse were thrown back at him that he began to contemplate suicide. A female friend sent Brady 50 paracetimal pills inside a hollowed out novel in 2006, but it was intercepted by authorities. Still, many of Brady's actions behind bars show a man who has no remorse and wishes only to inflict pain upon others. In 2005, he wrote a letter to Winnie Johnson claiming he could take police to her son's body, but that they would not allow it. He reportedly referred to Keith by his name in the letter.
Speaker 1:Hindney, for her part, logged an unsuccessful appeal against her conviction immediately after the trial. She reportedly exchanged letters with Brady after they were imprisoned until 1971, when she ended the relationship. She continued to correspond with him several months afterwards, but letters between the two were far and few between. According to Hindley, she had fallen in love with a prison warder named Patricia Karnes. Later, Hindney petitioned to have her status as a category A prisoner changed to category B, which was granted. This allowed her to be able to take an escorted walk outside, although the press despised that one of the most famous child killers in the country was allowed such freedoms. At one point Hindney attempted to escape from prison with the help of Patricia, but the impressions of the prison keys were intercepted by an off-duty police officer. Karnes was sentenced to six years in prison for her part in the trial.
Speaker 1:In 1977, the BBC aired a program which had two teams, one who wanted Hindney to be released and one who didn't, debating about Hindney's future in prison. Originally, it was agreed that Hindney should spend 25 years in jail before being considered for parole, but in 1985 the Home Secretary increased that number to 30. By this time the serial killer claimed that she was a reformed Catholic. Leslie Downey's mother was the face of a campaign that hoped to see Hindney never released. After she confessed to the five murders, Home Secretary David Wadington imposed a whole life tariff on her, although she was not made aware of this until four years later, in 1994. In 1996 the parole board suggested Hindney be moved to an open prison, but she rejected this idea. Two years later she was moved to each MP high point, a medium security facility. She made three appeals for her freedom between 1997 and 2000, but each one was rejected by the courts. During her time in prison, she learned to play the guitar, took up knitting and obtained a degree from the Open University. She also earned an award for a song she'd written and recorded During the 1990s.
Speaker 1:Hindney reported he claimed that she'd participated in the murders because Brady had drugged her, blackmailing her with pornographic images and threatened to kill Marine if she didn't go along with him. She told her solicitor around this time I ought to have been hanged. I deserved it. My crime was worse than Brady's because I enticed the children and they would never have entered the car without my role. I have also regarded myself as worse than Brady. Hindney's sentence was thrown into question, however, when, in 2002, another life sentence prisoner challenged the idea that the Home Secretary alone was able to wield the power of setting minimum prison sentences. Although the new Home Secretary ordered that fresh charges be laid against Hindney to stop her release from prison, which was looking more likely by the day, nothing suitable was ever found. Later that year, in November, it was decided that judges should determine how long a criminal spends in prison, not the Home Secretary.
Speaker 1:But on November 15th 2012, Hindney, aged 60, died from bronchial pneumonia at West Suffolk Hospital. In 1999 she had been diagnosed with angina and hospitalized after suffering a brain aneurysm. A short service was held following her demise at Cambridge crematorium and none of her relatives attended. Reportedly, 20 local undertakers refused to handle her cremation. Her ashes were scattered in Stalybridge County Park in Spring the following year by Patricia Karnes. In 2012, Brady went on another hunger strike, wishing to end his own life. He died of restrictive pulmonary disease at Ashworth Hospital on May 15th 2017, aged 79. An inquest found that he had died of natural causes, not from his hunger strike. He was cremated without a ceremony and his ashes disposed of at sea, although he allegedly wished them to be scattered across Saddlewood more, much to the fury of the general public and the families of his victims.
Speaker 1:Ian Brady and Myra Hindley were not just responsible for the horrific sexual assaults and slaying of five children and for inflicting internal pain on the families of their victims, but for causing lasting damage to the people around them too. David Smith, after the trial, became reveled by the people of Manchester because he'd profited from the murders. Furthermore, during the hearing, Maureen, who was eight months pregnant at the time, was attacked in the lift at the block of flats in which she lived with David. Their home was frequently vandalised and they regularly received hate mail. Maureen later stated she could not and was afraid to let her children out of her sight as they were growing up.
Speaker 1:David spent some time in prison after stabbing a man during a fight in 1969. He was behind bars for three years and he and Maureen's children were taken into care. Maureen meanwhile moved out to their shared home and into a single bedroom property. She began working in a department store but continued to suffer as campaigns and petitions gained traction that wanted her removed from the estate where she lived. She received no support from her family, as their mother supported Myra during the trial. After David left prison aged 24, he moved in with a 15 year old girl who became his second wife. Later on, he was also able to gain custody of his three children. He and Maureen divorced in 1973 and she went on to marry a lorry driver with whom she had a daughter. Maureen eventually made up with her mother and they visited Hinley in prison. But Maureen died in 1980 from a brain hemorrhage. At her funeral, the father of John Kilbride attempted to attack the daughter of Maureen's husband from a previous marriage, mistaking her for Hinley Wany Johnson. The mother of Keith Bennett continued to visit Saddleworth Moore looking for any signs of her son's body until her death in August of 2012. In 1987, the local council decided to demolish Brady and Hinley's home on Wardlebrook Avenue due to excessive media interest, creating unpleasantness for the residents, Notably although Brady was the one sexually assaulting the children and holding the murder weapon.
Speaker 1:Hinley took much of the blame and the brunt of the hatred from the general public, which was not helped by her constant attempts to gain freedom or the fact that she waited around 20 years before confessing to her involvement in the crimes. For many people at the time, her participation in such brutal and cruel acts of violence was a shock to the system. Even today, people have difficulty with the concept of a woman being aggressive and committing horrendous crimes. Author Helen Birch described Hinley as synonymous with the idea of feminine evil. What motivated Hinley?
Speaker 1:Whether she truly was threatened and blackmailed by Brady, or whether it was because she wanted to feed her own sinister urges, we will likely never know. Similarly, how involved she was with the crimes will continue to remain unclear. We only really have her word for how much she participated. Brady, meanwhile, appears to display the traits of most serial killers a distinct lack of guilt, a twisted need to taunt his victims and a desire for power and notoriety. The evil of Myra Hinley and Ian Brady is still felt today, and while they confess to five murders, many people believe that there are countless more victims waiting to be found. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Murderous Minds Podcast. If you would like to vote on upcoming episodes and watch our documentaries, then consider supporting us on Patreon. We hope you found this episode informative. Thank you again for joining us and stay safe everyone.