Ian Brady, Moors Murderer, To Speak Publicly For First Time In Nearly 50 Years

Ian Brady To Speak Publicly For First Time Since 1966 Trial
Ian Brady was hunched over his notes as he appeared at the mental health tribunal
Ian Brady was hunched over his notes as he appeared at the mental health tribunal
PA

Moors Murderer Ian Brady is to speak publicly for the first time since he was jailed for life in 1966 for a string of child murders, as he bids to leave a mental hospital.

The paedophile child-killer will give evidence in person on Tuesday to a tribunal sitting at maximum security Ashworth Hospital on Merseyside.

Brady has brought the mental health tribunal, which is being held in public, because he believes he is not mentally ill and wants to be transferred to a prison.

The 75-year-old, who has been on hunger strike since 1999, believes he will be able to starve himself to death in a jail - currently he is assessed as being chronically mentally ill and is fed through a tube in his nose.

Ian Brady was hunched over his notes as he appeared at the mental health tribunal

Judge Robert Atherton, chairing the three-man panel hearing the tribunal, said today: "We are going to take Mr Brady's evidence on Tuesday.

"Mr Brady will be giving evidence on Tuesday. He will probably be the last witness."

The hearing is being relayed to the press and public on TV screens at Manchester Civil Justice Centre.

On Friday he sat next to his legal team listening to proceedings, hunched over the desk in front of him making copious notes.

Dr Caroline Logan, a consultant forensic clinical psychologist, called to give evidence by Ashworth Hospital, said Brady is unwilling to speak or engage with clinicians.

"We can't get inside his head, as it were, and scrutinise his thoughts, feelings and beliefs."

Dr Logan said the only clues to his mental health are his past and current observable behaviour and she was "unable to discount" schizophrenia.

She said Brady is "pathologically narcissistic" - he has a "powerful sense of his own self-worth" and a "profound lack of insight". His problem is other people, not himself.

Dr Logan added: "I think he is at risk of harming other people.

"He has a history of the most extreme violence.

"He's never received any treatment for his deviant sexual interests which can't be denied."

She added: "Mr Brady is very handy with expletives", and this would create "extreme difficulties" if he spoke that way to prison officers and other inmates in a jail setting.

Dr Logan, under cross-examination by Nathalie Lieven QC for Brady, said he had been guilty of "appalling" crimes.

"He has been convicted for three murders," she said. "We know he committed five.

"He's a man with a track record for the ultimate violence and he's never been treated. He's never been close to being treated for his offending behaviour.

"We can't possibly say 'Aw, he's an old fella now, he won't offend.'

"We can't take that risk."

Brady was given life at Chester Assizes on May 6 1966 - the last time he spoke in a public forum as he denied a series of child murders.

Brady and his partner, Myra Hindley, were convicted of luring children and teenagers to their deaths, with their victims sexually tortured before being buried on Saddleworth Moor.

Brady was moved out of the prison system to Ashworth in 1985 as his mental health deteriorated.

The tribunal is sitting to determine whether he can be allowed to return to jail to continue serving his whole life sentence.

Brady's legal team have called their own expert who told the hearing the patient has a severe narcissistic personality disorder but is not mentally ill and could be treated in prison rather than hospital.

But expert psychologists called by Ashworth say Brady is still chronically mentally ill and is a paranoid schizophrenic who should remain at the hospital.

He has refused medication and therapy for his mental disorders since 2000 as he is "wholly resistant" to any treatment and now tries to hide his mental illness, the tribunal heard.

The hearing, which began on Monday, has heard that Brady sometimes hallucinates - and is observed talking to himself, leads a nocturnal existence, only coming out of his room at night, and regards himself superior to other patients and staff.

He is described as being routinely angry, irritable and abusive and constantly grumbles about being in Ashworth.

Brady is "pathologically narcissistic" and wants a "win" over the authorities, the tribunal has heard.

The tribunal has heard that, as the "the best-known paedophile in this country", he would be a target for other prisoners if he was transferred to a jail.

The hearing is the first time Brady has been seen in public for decades.

Close

What's Hot