The Moor Murders were some of the most horrific serial killings ever committed by a couple. The monsters behind these murders were Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. The bulk of their murders were committed in Saddleworth Moor near Oldham in Greater Manchester, England. They were the sort of couple that fed off each other’s sadistic, dark and brooding characteristics to the point where neither could see the evil in the other’s actions. They were child torturers and murderers-sexually sadistic pedophiles who murdered at least five children. Myra would have had people think that she had little to no hand in the killings. Ian asserts that she was just as involved as he was. The evidence suggests that Ian was telling the truth.
Myra led a relatively normal life. She was raised by her mother the first few years of her life, but later went to live with her doting grandmother. She was not abused. She was not abandoned. She was given all of the average opportunities that an average girl from an average family is expected to have. According to those who knew her, she showed no signs of violence or sexual sadism in her youth. In fact, she was a popular choice for a babysitter in her neighborhood. This fact is more than a little disturbing, given her later behavior.
Ian Brady was cared for by his mother in his infancy. No one but her knows who his father was and she never told. She had difficulty supporting Ian, so she gave him to a couple with children of their own. She signed over her welfare checks to them and came to visit Ian once a week until he was 12-years-old, at which time she remarried and disappeared from his life for several years. He did not find out that she was his mother until much later.
Ian’s adoptive parents were not abusive. They did the best they could with Ian, who was increasingly troublesome. He was, by all accounts, above average in the intelligence department. However, he never applied himself in school. He was a brooding, creepy outcast. Later, he became a thief. He was sent to live with his biological mother after being caught breaking and entering three times. After a stint with her and his stepfather, he found himself in more trouble. He was jailed at the age of 17 and let out when he was 21-years-old.
Myra Hindley and Ian Brady met in 1961 and began dating in 1962. Ian Brady was into Nazi culture and dark literature. He let Myra in on his most twisted beliefs and Myra never questioned them. She began dressing in leather boots and mini-skirts because that is what Ian liked. She also bleached her hair. We are left with this image of her from her mug shots-bleached blonde hair, dark apathetic eyes and a remorseless expression.
It did not take long for the couple to start stealing, raping and killing children. Their first known victim was 16-year-old Pauline Reade. Pauline was walking to a dance on July 12, 1963, when Myra offered her a ride. She asked her to come to Saddleworth Moor to help her find a fictitious lost glove. The pretty and kind girl agreed. Ian was not far behind. When they got to the Moor, Ian hit Pauline in the head with a shovel and brutally raped her before slitting her throat so savagely that he nearly removed her head. He then buried her nearby. Only Myra and Ian know for sure how much Myra participated in Pauline’s brutal murder.
On November 23, 1963, Myra managed to get 12-year-old John Kilbride to take a ride home from the grocery store with her. Like Pauline before him, John was tricked into thinking that Myra had lost a glove on Saddleworth Moor. Once they arrived, Ian brutally beat and raped the poor boy. He then attempted to slit his throat and failed. He opted instead to strangle him with a piece of string – a method that would become a habit with Ian. John was also buried in the moor. Myra later claimed she sat in the car through John’s ordeal.
Their next victim was Kyle Bennett, who had just turned 12-years-old when Myra Hindley and Ian Brady killed him. Kyle’s murder was nearly identical to that of John, except Ian took pictures of his sadistic deeds. Myra reportedly burned them later, after police had arrested Ian. Kind of an odd act for someone who was not a willing participant in the murder. Kyle’s body is the only one that has yet to be found. His still grieving mother has pleaded with her son’s killers for the location of his tiny, tortured body, but to no avail. Ian’s cruelty and selfishness knows no bounds.
The next and youngest victim of the Moor Murderers was 10-year-old Lesley Ann Downey. Myra and Ian met her on the Ancoats Fairground on December 26, 1964. They asked her to help them carry boxes at their house. She agreed. Once there, they tied her up, tortured her, raped her and strangled her. Her tiny body was later taken to the moor and buried. Police would later find pictures of her bound and raped body. They also found an audio tape of her torture. In it, little Lesley dry heaves, cries and begs for her life. In the background, you can hear both of her tormentors, proving that Myra was more than just a bystander. Sadly, Lesley’s mother was needed to identify her daughter’s voice on the tape for police.
On October 6, 1965, 17-year-old Edward Evans was brought to the Hindley/Brady house. His was to be the last of the Moor Murders. Ian slaughtered him with an ax. While he was in the act, Myra’s brother-in-law arrived at the house. He witnessed the murder. Ian and Myra made him help them clean up the mess. He was there for hours before going home the next morning terrified and physically ill. He told his wife what he had seen and they both went to the police. Ian was arrested soon after. Police had arrived at the house and found Edward’s body in an upstairs bedroom.
Ian was eventually found guilty of three murders – Myra of two. The Moor Murderers kept in touch through letters until 1970, when Myra stopped writing Ian. Myra died in jail at the age of 60. Ian still lives. He has been on hunger strike for the past ten years. He is force fed through a tube to keep him alive. He shows no remorse for his killings, but he never wanted to be let out of jail. He never once appealed.
Sources
Steel, Fiona, Murder on the Moors, retrieved 9/28/10, trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/moors/index_1.html
