The EVIL Couple
Ian Brady and Myra Hindley committed the terrifying Murders between July 1963 and October 1965 carried out in Manchester, England.
The couple claimed the lives of five children: (Left to Right) John Kilbride, Lesley Ann Downey, Edward Evans, Pauline Reade, and Keith Bennett.
The ages of these victims were anywhere from 10 to 17. Before being killed, the attackers sexually assaulted four of the five children. In 1987, two of the victims’ bodies were found in graves on Saddleworth Moor. The third burial was found in 1987, twenty years after Brady and Hindley were found guilty. Thought to be buried in Moor, Bennett’s body is the only one that has not been found.
1. Before the actual murders, Brady had started discussing the perfect murder.
Myra Hindley, just eighteen, started working as a typewriter at Millwards in January 1961, where she first met Brady. Myra fell in love with Brady despite his criminal history, and they moved in together as a couple in her grandmother’s house.
Brady first started discussing the idea of pulling out the ideal murder in July 1963. Myra disclosed that Brady had discussed a book called Meyer Levin’s Compulsion with her.
This book recounted a fictitious version of the Leopold and Loeb case, in which two young men attempted to kill a 12-year-old kid in a perfect murder. But because of their age, the two young men were spared the death penalty. Brady was compelled to commit murders by this story.
2. The murderers chose Reade over the 8-year-old girl who was supposed to be the first victim.
On July 12, 1963, Brady instructed Myra to drive a rented van while he followed on his motorbike in pursuit of their victim. Brady had just returned from work. That night, he had wanted to commit the perfect murder.
Brady pointed to Hindley after spotting a small girl while traveling down Gorton Lane. But Myra wouldn’t give up because she knew the eight-year-old as her mother’s neighbour.
The eight-year-old was meant to be their first victim, but instead, they saw Pauline Reade, a sixteen-year-old who went to school with Maureen, Myra’s sister. Myra disclosed that they chose the adolescent because her disappearance could receive less notice.
3. Brady raped and almost decapitated the head of his first victim.
Following her acceptance of Myra’s ride, Pauline Reade was asked to assist in the search for a costly glove in Saddleworth Moor. Pauline thought Brady would join the hunt, so he joined them and escorted her to the moor.
Thirty minutes later, Brady came back by himself and led Myra to the spot where Pauline’s lifeless body lay. She looked like she had been nearly beheaded, and her clothes were a mess. Pauline suffered two lacerations on her throat, one spanning her voice box by four inches.
Brady openly confessed to raping Reade. Meanwhile, Myra returned to the van and got out a spade to bury Pauline.
4. A bottle of sherry was used to attract the second victim.
On November 23, 1963, early in the evening, Brady and Myra stopped at an Ashton-under-Lyne market and offered 12-year-old John Kilbride a ride home. The two, traveling in a rented Ford Anglia, offered to take him home to save his parents’ worries.
They had also guaranteed him a bottle of sherry if he accepted their offer. Brady told John they would look for a misplaced glove, so he got into the car and drove to the moor.
Myra waited in the car as Brady picked up the small boy at the moor. Brady tried to cut John’s throat with a six-inch serrated blade and sexually assaulted him. But in the end, Brady used a shoelace or string to strangle John.
5. Brady used a string to strangle his third victim after sexually abusing him.
Early on June 16, 1964, Myra asked 12-year-old Keith Bennett to assist her in packing boxes into her mini-pickup. Keith was traveling to Longsight to visit his grandmother.
Brady had been sitting in the van’s rear seat the entire time. The two told Keith, much like the first two victims, that they were just stopping by the moor to look for a misplaced glove.
Brady arrived alone, carrying a spade, 30 minutes after leaving with Keith. Brady had sexually assaulted Keith and strangled him with thread.
6. Brady and Myra took naked photos of their fourth victim before killing her.
When the two went to a funfair in Ancoats on December 26, 1964, they saw 10-year-old Lesley Ann Downey alone. The pair asked her to assist them in picking up and carrying their purchases to their car after they purposefully abandoned their shopping.
Lesley was also asked to go with Brady and Myra to Wardle Brook Avenue. Lesley was restrained, muzzled, and forced to undress at their house so that pictures could be taken. Later on, she was murdered and raped. Her body was brought to the moor and buried nude, with her clothes at her feet, in a shallow grave.
7. The last victim had been chosen for a sexual encounter.
Brady and Myra drove to the Manchester Central railway station on the evening of October 6, 1965. Myra waited in the car while he searched for the next victim.
Afterward, Brady came back with Edward Evans, a 17-year-old engineering trainee. He introduced Myra Hindley as his sister. The reason for picking up Evans was explained to be a sexual encounter.
The three went to Myra’s house, where they had wine to begin the evening. After several glasses of alcohol, Brady hit the lad on the head with a hatchet, killing him instantly.
8. Brady’s belongings contained a 16-minute audiotape of a girl screaming for help.
Myra’s sister’s husband, Smith, called the police following Evans’s most recent murder to report what he had seen. Brady and Hindley’s baggage was discovered at the left luggage offices at Manchester Central railway station on October 15.
After removing the contents from the luggage, investigators discovered some startling documents, including a 16-minute audiotape of a girl claiming to be Lesley Ann Weston.
She begged and screamed for the two to let her go back to her mother’s house. Later, her mother confirmed that it was her daughter’s voice in the recordings.
9. The murderers possessed photographic evidence of their killings.
The luggage search also discovered several records of photos and other stuff. Police found multiple photos depicting various moor scenes.
Brady had claimed to have photographic proof of several killings. To recover the bodies, the investigators asked the locals for assistance in locating areas that corresponded with the photos.
10. Brady was identified as a Psychopath.
The two murderers received life sentences following their trials. The “most evil woman in Britain” was said to be Myra Hindley. After multiple unsuccessful appeals, she was sentenced to 36 years in prison and passed away at the age of 60.
In 1985, Ian Brady was diagnosed as a psychopath. He was detained at Ashworth Hospital, a high-security facility. Brady often pleaded to be permitted to end his own life, but he passed away in 2017 at the age of 79.
Conclusion
The Murders were horrifically carried out, shocking the British people who had never seen such brutal deeds. Some people, along with the relatives of the victims, have been looking for the bodies even after they passed away.
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