Ian Brady: Soulmate Myra Hindley Was As Ruthless As I Was

'Our motto was to live fast and die young.'

Chilling details of the intense love affair between Moors Murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley have been revealed for the first time.

Brady, who died in high-security Ashworth Hospital on Monday evening, was jailed for life alongside Hindley for the murders of five children in the 60s.

His confidante Dr Alan Keightley has long promised to publish a book on the killer after his death.

Ian Brady and Myra Hindley were jailed for the murders of five children
Ian Brady and Myra Hindley were jailed for the murders of five children
Bettmann via Getty Images

The religious studies expert, who began writing to Brady in 1992 and is now his legal heir, describes Brady as a nihilist, as well as an “evil, sadistic psychopath who considered himself an existentialist.”

Writing for the Daily Mail, Dr Keightley recounts how Brady described his first meeting with Hindley as “the arc of electricity between two electrodes – shades of Frankenstein.

“When we were together, there was a third entity, an intoxicating, unified force, something intangible that possessed a power beyond both of us,” he added.

Brady and Hindley posing for a self portrait on Saddleworth Moor
Brady and Hindley posing for a self portrait on Saddleworth Moor
Rex Features

While Hindley claimed in prison to have been coerced by Brady, he insisted: “Our relationship wasn’t master and slave. It was more like teacher and student.

“But Myra was surprisingly in tune with me from the very beginning. I was never conscious of having to exert myself to coerce her into accepting my belief in a relativist morality. Bit by bit we were moving towards an almost telepathic relationship. She was as ruthless as I was.”

Hindley was convicted of two of the murders and shielding Brady after another murder, and given a life sentence. She died in jail in 2002 aged 60.

Brady continued: “Myra was a soulmate. We accepted gladly the indifference of the universe. Our motto was to live fast and die young.”

While Brady’s death marked a certain closure for most of the families of the pair’s victims, the body of 12-year-old Keith Bennet has never been found despite extensive searches of Manchester’s Saddleworth Moor.

Last year, Dr Keightley, whose work Ian Brady: The Untold Story of the Moors Murders by Dr Alan Keightley, is published as an ebook on 22 May, claimed the killer had told him where Keith’s body lies.

He told The Mirror: “Keith Bennett’s body is at the north side of Manchester. There is a deep rise on the right where John Kilbride was buried. If you climb up the hill you turn left where it turns flat, turn left at Shinybrook and they walked for three miles.

Hindley photographed on the moor by Brady
Hindley photographed on the moor by Brady
Rex Features

“Brady led the way along Shinybrook. He had a pre-laid plan for Myra to take the rope after three miles then Brady switched the leadership and made Myra go, and put the stranglehold on Keith Bennett, raped him and killed him.”

Dr Keightley says he has passed the information to police, but claims the reason Keith’s body has still not been found is: “Because they haven’t trusted him.”

Upon Brady’s death, Greater Manchester Police insisted the case will never be closed and that the force still hopes to find Keith’s body and allow his family to give him a proper burial.

Pauline Reade, 16, disappeared on her way to a disco on July 12, 1963 and John Kilbride, 12, was snatched in November the same year. Keith was taken 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.

The details of his funeral and last wishes are unknown.

Close

What's Hot