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Hunt for Moors murders victim takes new twist with arrest
Hunt for Moors murders victim takes new twist with arrest
(about 4 hours later)
The 48-year search for the body of Keith Bennett, who was murdered by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley at the age of 12, took a further twist when it was revealed that a 49-year old woman, believed to be the mental health advocate assigned to Brady, had been arrested on suspicion of preventing the lawful burial of a body.
For 48 years, Winnie Johnson has held out hope that the Moors murderer, Ian Brady, would reveal the location of her son's body, the last missing victim of Brady and his accomplice, Myra Hindley.
During a television interview about Brady, his long-standing mental health advocate Jackie Powell unexpectedly claimed that she knew of a letter in which Brady apparently described where the body of Keith, one of the moors murderers' five victims, is buried, addressed to the boy's mother.
That prospect seemed a tantalising step closer on Friday with news that police are investigating the possibility that Brady has revealed the location of Keith Bennett's grave in a letter he described to his mental health advocate, Jackie Powell.
A quarter of a century ago, Brady returned with police to Saddleworth moor, above Manchester, where the young victims were buried, but along with Hindley, who died in 2002, they could only identify where Pauline Reade was buried. Keith, who disappeared as he visited his grandmother, is the only missing victim. The letter – if it exists – could provide answers to where his remains are buried.
Yet as police said they are searching for the sealed letter that Powell, whose role is to advise Brady of his rights under the Mental Health Act, said described the location of Bennett's grave, it was unclear whether it even exists.
Paddy Wivell, producer of the Cutting Edge documentary to be screened next week, was "really shocked" to hear of the revelation from Powell, who had, until that point, been circumspect. She described a sealed envelope that Brady specified must be opened after his death, in an interview that was filmed on 20 July, according to its broadcaster Channel 4.
Powell was arrested on Thursday by Greater Manchester police on suspicion of preventing the lawful burial of a body after she told a Channel 4 documentary about the letter, which she says was addressed to Johnson. The police also searched Brady's cell at the high security hospital at Ashworth in Merseyside, where he is incarcerated. Powell was bailed for three months after documents were seized from her home.
In the programme Powell holds one letter from Brady, written to her, which she says refers to a second letter written by Brady to Bennett's mother, Winnie Johnson. The programme makers say they never saw the letter from Brady to Johnson, and so could not verify its existence – and nor were they allowed to read the first Brady letter, held by his advocate in the programme.
In the Cutting Edge documentary, Powell holds a letter from Brady to her, which she says refers to a second letter written by Brady to Johnson. The programme-makers say they did not see the second letter and were not allowed to read the first, which Powell held while being interviewed.
Channel 4 says the producers urged Powell to disclose the existence of the letter to the police, and apparently a few days after filming the programme makers learned that Powell had handed the letter back to his killer. Uncertain as to what to do, Jay Hunt, Channel 4's director of programmes, was informed and it led to an extraordinary chain of events. The family liaison officer working with Winnie Johnson was informed of the development and with the police now informed, the Greater Manchester police cold case review team was drafted in on 30 July.
Martin Bottomley, head of investigative review at Greater Manchester police's major and cold case crime unit, said: "The Moors murders cast a long and dark shadow over the history of our region but in 2009 we reluctantly concluded there was no longer any specific information to identify new search areas and the investigation to find Keith entered a dormant stage. However, we have always stressed this is a case we will never close.
The story, though, did not break into the public domain for just over a fortnight, although preview copies of the documentary had begun to circulate among TV reviewers on Fleet Street. On Thursday Greater Manchester police arrested a 49-year-old woman, believed to be Powell, at her home in South Wales on suspicion of preventing the lawful burial of a body. She was bailed for three months after documents were seized from her home.
That prompted Channel 4 and the programme makers to go public, releasing transcripts of the programme. Wivell told the Guardian he was shocked by the "breathtaking" revelation that Powell intended to return the letter to the killer, who is held at the high-security Ashworth hospital, Merseyside, where he has been force-fed against his will for 13 years. Police searched Brady's cell as part of their inquiry but they say "no documentation relating to this matter has been found."
Wivell is adamant he hasn't seen the letter supposedly intended for Winnie Johnson and isn't sure it exists, as Brady could be manipulating the police and media. He said perhaps Powell felt a loyalty as she worked with the killer for so long and "apparently she took it back to him".
The documentary, Ian Brady: Endgames of a Psychopath, will be broadcast on Channel 4 on Monday at 9pm.
Powell, who has for the last 13 years had professional obligations to Brady in her capacity as advocate, has not opened the envelope so can't verify its contents.
She told the Daily Mirror that Brady doesn't want "to take his secrets to the grave", and the letter could afford Johnson, who is in poor health, "the means of her possibly being able to rest".
Wivell was "taken aback" following Powell's arrest. He feels for Winnie Johnson, currently in a hospice, as she has suffered "unimaginable torture" over five decades. Brady was jailed for life in 1966 for the murders of John Kilbride, Lesley Ann Downey and Edward Evans. Hindley was convicted of killing Lesley Ann and Edward and protecting Brady after John's murder, and jailed for life. They finally admitted killing Keith Bennett and Pauline Reade in 1987.
Martin Bottomley, head of investigative review of Greater Manchester police's major and cold case crime unit, said: "The moors murders cast a long and dark shadow over the history of our region but in 2009 we reluctantly concluded there was no longer any specific information to identify new search areas and the investigation to find Keith entered a dormant stage. However, we have always stressed this is a case we will never close.
"We have been, and always will be, open to pursuing any new lines of inquiry that arise from significant scientific advances or credible and actionable information."
"We have been, and always will be, open to pursuing any new lines of inquiry that arise from significant scientific advances or credible and actionable information."
He added: "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 Winnie Johnson, which was not to be opened until after his death."
Bottomley said he did not know if Brady knew the location of the grave or if he was manipulating the public, "but we clearly have a duty to investigate such information on behalf of Keith's family".
Bottomley said they don't know if it is true or simply a ruse "but we clearly have a duty to investigate such information on behalf of Keith's family. He appealed for Winnie Johnson to be left alone as she is so ill. Last December, Johnson indicated she wanted to hear face-to-face from Brady where her son was buried, and wrote a letter last month saying it was her dying wish.
Twelve-year-old Bennett was one of the pair's five victims. He disappeared after visiting his grandmother and was killed and buried somewhere on Saddleworth Moor.
David Wilson, a professor of criminology at Birmingham City University, an expert in serial killers, expressed doubt about the existence of a letter. He said: "There is no new information here. Ian Brady went back to the Moors in 1987 and said to the police officer: 'Who moves that mountain?' They stopped the investigation then because it's quite clear he didn't have a clue where the body was. This is not about Keith Bennett, or Winnie Johnson, it's about Ian Brady.
Paddy Wivell, producer of the documentary which will be broadcast next week, said he was shocked to hear of Powell's letter and that she intended to return the letter to Brady. He suggested Powell felt a loyalty as she worked with the killer for so long and "apparently she took it back to him".
"He is a master of trying to inject what is broadcast and printed about him and making sure we interpret the story in the way he would like us to interpret it. He's unique in the sense that most serial killers don't want to talk and communicate. Ian Brady communicates all the time. When you assess what he writes it is usually self serving nonsense not remotely reliable." He wants a positive ending, but Brady's "legally insane, so why do we believe he's going to say anything at all that can be reliable?"
Powell said she received a letter of instruction and a sealed envelope from Brady via his solicitors. The letter of instruction said the envelope contained three letters – one addressed to Bennett's mother.
Lord Pendry, the former longstanding MP for Stalybridge and Hyde, who persuaded Brady to "match his words with deeds" when he revisited the moors in 1987, said: "I convinced him to go up and look for the boy Bennett's body. Then I went to Manchester Police and they took him up there, he couldn't find it.
The producers urged Powell to tell police about the letter and when she declined they informed the police, who began an investigation on 30 July.
"It was an almost impossible situation. Myra Hindley took them to Lesley Ann Downey's grave. He was anxious to upstage her."
Powell later told the Daily Mirror Brady doesn't want "to take his secrets to the grave", and the letter could afford Johnson, who is in poor health, "the means of her possibly being able to rest".
He expressed concern about "what's new with the situation. He has been there previously and couldn't find it then" fearing he was "leading more people up the garden path."
A quarter of a century ago, Brady returned with police to Saddleworth Moor, along with Hindley, who died in 2002. But police could only identify where Pauline Reade was buried.
Brady was jailed for life in 1966 for the murders of John Kilbride, Lesley Ann Downey and Edward Evans. Hindley was convicted of killing Downey and Evans, and with protecting Brady. She was jailed for life. They finally admitted killing Bennett and Reade in 1987.
David Wilson, a professor of criminology at Birmingham City University and an expert on serial killers, expressed doubt about the existence of a letter. "There is no new information here. Ian Brady went back to the moors in 1987 and said to the police officer: 'Who moves that mountain?' They stopped the investigation then because it's quite clear he didn't have a clue where the body was. This is not about Keith Bennett, or Winnie Johnson, it's about Ian Brady.
"He is a master of trying to inject what is broadcast and printed about him and making sure we interpret the story in the way he would like us to interpret it. He's unique in the sense that most serial killers don't want to talk and communicate. Ian Brady communicates all the time. When you assess what he writes it is usually self-serving nonsense, not remotely reliable."
Brady wants a positive ending, he said, but the killer is "legally insane. So why do we believe he's going to say anything at all that can be reliable?"
Lord Pendry, the former MP for Stalybridge and Hyde, who persuaded Brady to "match his words with deeds" when he revisited the moors in 1987 ostensibly to find Bennett's body, asked: "What's new with the situation? He has been there previously and couldn't find it then." He feared Brady was "leading more people up the garden path."
