Moors Murderers: are Ian Brady and Myra Hindley still alive, how long were they in prison - and last words

Ian Brady and Myra Hindley became infamous for their horrifying crimes which became known as the Moors murders.

The pair were eventually caught in 1965, and both received life sentences for the murders.

Between July 1963 and October 1965 they lured five children and teens to their deaths before burying them on Saddleworth Moor in the north-west of England.

The victims were aged between 10 and 17 years old, with four said to have been sexually assaulted.

Now fresh searches are underway for the remains of 12-year-old Keith Bennett - the only one of the victims whose body has never been found.

But when were Brady and Hindley jailed and are they still alive?

When were Brady and Hindley jailed?

Brady and Hindley’s victims were Pauline Reade, 16, who disappeared on her way to a disco on July 12 1963; John Kilbride, 12, who was snatched in November the same year; Lesley Ann Downey, 10, who was lured away from a funfair on Boxing Day 1964; and Edward Evans, 17, who was axed to death in October 1965.

While Keith Bennett, 12, was killed after he left home in Eston Street, Longsight, Manchester, on his way to his grandmother’s house nearby on 16 June 1964.

The killers were caught after the Evans murder and Lesley and John’s bodies were recovered from the moors.

Both Brady and Hindley were taken back to Saddleworth Moor to help police find the remains of the outstanding victims but only Pauline’s body was recovere

The pair went on trial in April 1966. Hindley and Brady were convicted of the murders of Lesley Ann Downey and Edward Evans in 1966.

Brady was also convicted of the murder of John Kilbride with Hindley found guilty of acting as an accessory.

She was given two concurrent life sentences, and seven years for harbouring Brady in the knowledge that he had murdered Kilbride Brady was given three life sentences.

No tariff had been specified but the judge said he did not think reform was a possibility for Brady, although he did not think the same was necessarily true of Hindley.

The trial judge had said that Brady’s life sentence should mean life, and Brady himself said he never wanted to be released.

In 1987 Hindley admitted her involvement in all five murders. It was only after Pauline Reade’s body was found that year that Brady confessed.

Hindley’s sentence became a whole-life tariff in 1990.

Are Ian Brady and Myra Hindley still alive?

No. Ian Brady died in 2017 in the high-security hospital where he’d spent the last 32 years of his life. Prior to that he’s spent 19 years in mainstream prisons. While Myra Hindley died at the age of 60 in jail. She had been in prison for 36 years.

Brady, who showed no remorse for his crimes, died on 15 May, 2017, with from lung condition COPD. He was bedridden for two years prior to his death. The Mirror reports a high court judge ruled he would have “no music, no ceremony” after he wanted his ashes scattered to “witchcraft” music.

His ashes were disposed of in the Irish Sea.

Hindley died in November 2002, aged 60, after suffering respiratory failure following a heart attack.

She was a heavy smoker who in 1999 had been diagnosed with angina and hospitalised after suffering a brain aneurysm. She was cremated in a private service.

What were their last words?

Myra Hindley

Private documents handed over by Myra Hindley just hours before her death revealed the hatred between her and Brady - as she accused him of drugging, raping and beating her.

The papers were handed over by Hindley as she was escorted from HMP Highpoint to the West Sussex Hospital where she died later that day in 2002.

They had formed part of an appeal to reduce her life sentence.

In the letter to lawyers, Hindley she claims that Brady coerced her into the murder of their first victim Pauline Reade by threatening her if she backed out.

“As we were driving home, he [Brady] told me that if I’d shown any signs of ‘backing out’ I would have finished up in the same grave as Pauline Reade did.

“I just said ‘I know’.”

In her will Hindley said she didn’t want her organs or any other parts of her body removed, she also specified what music she wanted at her service.

The will stated: “It is also my wish to be cremated, and for the cremation service to be conducted by the Rev. Michael Teader and for my ashes to be disposed of at his discretion. Furthermore, I would like Albinoni’s Adagio to be played during my cremation, and would like Masses to be offered for the repose of my soul.”

Ian Brady

After his death it was reported that he had spoken to his lawyer Robin Makin hours before his died.

Mr Makin had told Radio 4’s Today programme: “(Brady) was obviously well aware that his death was imminent and I was with him for maybe a couple of hours and left perhaps two hours before he died.

“We discussed a few things but he was extremely weak and it was sort of very, very difficult for him.

“It was somebody who was in his last hours really.

“When he was able to speak he spoke to me – we discussed a few things but not as extensively as on previous occasions.

“He wanted to make sure that his legal and preparatory wishes were going to be fulfilled by me.”

Brady died without ever revealing the location of the body of 12-year-old Keith Bennett.

Mr Makin had said he would be “very surprised” if the killer had withheld information on Keith’s burial site. He said the whereabouts of his remains did not come up in conversation.

He added: “I would be very surprised if he really had information that was useful.