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| The street on which the couple lived. Photo by Gene Hunt (Mikey) |
The Moor Murders were some of the most horrific serial
killings ever committed by a couple. The monsters behind these murders were IanBrady 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. That's
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. They also found an audiotape of her torture. In it,
little Lesley gags, 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
Moor Murders, retrieved 9/28/10,
monstropedia.org/index.php?title=Moors_murders
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