Moors Murder victim's brother urges police to 'follow trail' in Ian Brady's manuscript

The brother of missing Moors Murder victim Keith Bennett has begged authorities to "follow a trail" to find pages from evil Ian Brady's secret autobiography.

Brady and his accomplice Myra Hindley never revealed where they buried 12-year-old Keith after killing him in 1964. But the BBC documentary, The Moors Murders: A Search for Justice, has uncovered the first 394 pages of Brady's memoirs called Black Light,which he sent to a solicitor.

They detail where the pair buried another victim on Saddleworth Moor, near Manchester. But 200 pages of the manuscript, found in the attic of the solicitor who died in 2023, are missing. Now Keith's brother, Alan Bennett says they could hold a "vital clue" to recover his body.

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Writing on Facebook, Alan said: "The main focus now is in following a trail to try and find what has happened to the missing pages of Brady's book. There is a strong feeling with everybody that Brady may have given his full account of what he and Hindley did. The hope is that there is a vital clue in his account of Keith's abduction and murder."

A copy of Brady's secret manuscript was uncovered by cold case experts working with film-maker Duncan Staff as they trawled a large cache of files. The typewritten notes cover his relationship with Myra Hindley and a description of the murder and burial of their first victim, Pauline Reade, 16.

Mr Staff believes the missing final 200 pages of Brady's manuscript may contain his account of Keith's murder and burial in 1964. Brady's biographer, the late Dr Alan Keightley, wrote that Brady told him Black Light ran to at least 600 pages.

The missing pages are believed to have been deposited with Brady's solicitor, Robin Makin, in Liverpool, in a locked Samsonite briefcase. But Mr Makin has never disclosed its contents and has not commented.

Mr Bennett's solicitor John Ainley said Greater Manchester Police had unsuccessfully applied for a warrant to access the briefcases after Brady's death in May 2017 at Ashworth Hospital, a secure psychiatric unit in Merseyside where he had been detained since 1985.

But he said the court had not granted the warrant to the force, even after the law was changed in 2022 in a bid to make it easier for police to obtain evidence which could help them find human remains.

"That law was passed and I think the police tried to act upon that, but it didn't give them, it appears, any additional powers," Mr Ainley told the BBC.

"I think the police have been informed that there is no such information [about Keith's whereabouts] in the hands of the solicitors and consequently we've not been able to so far take it any further."

He added: "The latest information that some pages from the autobiography have been passed to this solicitor - that will enable them to, I assume, apply to the court in order that they can have access to them," he said.

"So we'll be having further discussions with Greater Manchester Police to see just what action they propose to take."

Mr Ainley said while there was no suggestion the missing memoir pages were in the briefcases, the family was "anxious" for anything that could help give them answers.

He said: "I don't think they're connected, but the combination of those pages and the contents of the cases, if those are all examined and put together, it might form a picture that is really helpful.

"The family are desperate to get closure and find Keith's body."

Keith was the third victim of Brady and Hindley, who killed five children. The bodies of John Kilbride, 12, and Lesley Ann Downey, 10, were found at Saddleworth Moor near Manchester in 1965.

Edward Evans, 17, was found at the killers' house after being murdered in 1965. The body of Pauline was found on the moor in 1987. Hindley died in 2002, aged 60, and Brady died in 2017, aged 79. They had been sentenced to life.

A GMP representative said the force had "always remained committed to finding answers for Keith Bennett's family".

They said: "Keith's family is central to any action we take in relation to this case and our thoughts remain with them."

The force said it would "carefully consider and respond" to any "credible evidence".