Moors Murderer Ian Brady will have his mental health tribunal hearing held in public, a judge has ruled.

It will be only the second time that such a hearing has been held in public. No date has been set.

Judge Robert Atherton granted permission in October for the hearing to be held in public, but it can only now be reported for the first time.

Brady and his partner, Myra Hindley, were responsible for the murders of five children in the 1960s. They lured children and teenagers to their deaths, with victims sexually tortured before being buried on Saddleworth Moor above Manchester.

Pauline Reade, 16, disappeared on her way to a dance on July 12 1963 and John Kilbride, 12, was snatched in November the same year. Keith Bennett was snatched on June 16 1964 after he left home to visit his grandmother; Lesley Ann Downey, 10, was lured away from a funfair on Boxing Day 1964; and Edward Evans, 17, was killed in October 1965.

Brady was given life at Chester Assizes in 1966 for the murders of John, Lesley Ann and Edward. Hindley was convicted of killing Lesley Ann and Edward and shielding Brady after John's murder, and jailed for life.

In 1987 the pair finally admitted killing Keith and Pauline. Both were taken back to Saddleworth Moor in 1987 to help police find the remains of the missing victims but only Pauline's body was found.

Hindley died in jail in November 2002, aged 60. Brady has spent the last 25 years at the high-security Ashworth Hospital.

Brady, who was born in Glasgow, wants to be transferred to a Scottish prison and be allowed to die.

The hearing will be a rare chance to see the Moors Murderer in public.