17/08/2012

Ian Brady 'May Have Revealed' Location Of Keith Bennett

The location of the body of the last missing Moors murder victim, 12-year-old Keith Bennett, may have been revealed in a letter.

Police are investigating if Ian Brady gave details of the location to his mental health advocate, Jackie Powell.

Ms Powell was arrested in south Wales on suspicion of preventing the lawful burial of a body and has been bailed.

Brady and Myra Hindley murdered five children between 1963 and 1965.

They kidnapped, tortured and murdered the children. The bodies of three of them were buried on Saddleworth Moor near Manchester, while one was found at Brady's home.

Keith Bennett is the only body not to be recovered.

Keith’s mother, Winnie Johnson, now 78-years-old, has has fought a long campaign to get Brady to reveal the location of her son's grave.


Martin Bottomley, from Greater Manchester Police's Major and Cold Case Crime Unit, said: "I want to be explicitly clear about this: Ian Brady has not revealed to police the location of Keith's body.

"What we are looking at is the possibility, and at this stage it is only a possibility, that he has written a letter to Keith's mum Winnie Johnson which was not to be opened until after his death.

"We do not know if this is true or simply a ruse but we clearly have a duty to investigate such information on behalf of Keith's family."

The police were alerted to the possibility of information about the location of Keith's remains by the makers of a Channel 4 documentary about Brady, who said Ms Powell had told them she had received letters from the killer, one of which was for Mrs Johnson.

The programme's editor Emma Cooper said after learning of the documents, she had informed police.

"No-one can verify the contents of the envelope and therefore what information it does or does not contain but given the enormity of the implications as suggested by Brady's letter, we felt we had a responsibility to inform the family via their family liaison officer," she said.

(H)

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