Major update on dig for Moors Murders victim Keith Bennett released by police
POLICE have ended their search for Moors murder victim Keith Bennett after finding no evidence of human remains.
Officers began excavating an area of Saddleworth last week after an author came forward claiming he found a skull.
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It was hoped the huge breakthrough could finally crack the riddle that has plagued police and his family for nearly 60 years.
But in a blow to Keith’s family, police confirmed today they were ending their search.
They concluded there is “currently no evidence to indicate the presence of human remains”.
The development means the 58-year mystery of where the 12-year-old was buried continues.
Tragically, Keith’s mum Winnie went to the grave without ever being able to bury her son.
Ian Brady and Myra Hindley snatched Keith on June 16, 1964, as he made his way to his grandmother’s house.
He was strangled and buried on Saddleworth Moor by the depraved duo but his body has never been found.
Forensic anthropologists from Greater Manchester Police examined the samples after receiving new information from independent archaeologists who tipped them off.
Author Russell Edwards told police the skull is believed to belong to a child aged around 12 with a child’s upper jaw with a full set of teeth.
Detectives were also focusing on a sample of material believed to be clothing that was buried 3ft under the remains.
The suspected burial site was just a few hundred yards from where the couple buried their other victims.
Mr Edwards said he believed Brady was attempting to make a Swastika shape with the graves.
Brady was Nazi-obsessed and impressed Hindley by reading Mein Kampf in the original German when they met in Manchester.
Recalling his discovery, he said: “The smell hit me about 2ft down. Like a sewer, like ammonia. It was on my clothes. I stank of it. The soil reeked.
“I worked as a gravedigger when I was 19 and it hits you, that smell of death. It is distinctive.
“I was overjoyed. Then we found blue and white stripped material. Then I stopped. I put everything back as I found it.”
While archaeologist Dawn Keen, who worked with Mr Edwards, said: “I do believe there are human remains there.
“From the photographs, I saw the teeth. I could see the canines. I could see the incisors. I could see the first molar. It is the left side of an upper jaw. There is no way that it is an animal.”
How evil couple horrified nation with Moors murders
On July 12, 1963, Brady told Hindley he wanted to “commit his perfect murder”.
The twisted duo then embarked on a gruesome reign of terror that saw five children slaughtered.
Hindley would often lure the children in before driving them to Saddleworth Moor or the pair’s home.
Brady would then kill them often by throat slashing or strangling.
Four of the five victims were sexually assaulted as well as murdered.
They were also beaten, abused and gagged and made to pose for photographs.
The five victims were:
- Pauline Reade, 16
- John Kilbride, 12
- Keith Bennett, 12
- Lesley Ann Downey, 10
- Edward Evans, 17
The reign of terror came to an end in 1965 when Brady invited Hindley’s brother-in-law and friend, David Smith, round to their home.
The monster then murdered Edward Evans – striking him fourteen times with a hatchet before finishing the job by strangling him – while Smith looked on in horror.
Under the pretence of helping them hide the body, Smith left and phoned the police next morning and directed them to Brady’s address.
On October 7, 1965, Superintendent Bob Talbot of the Cheshire Police arrived at the back door of 16 Wardle Brook Avenue and arrested the killer after discovering Edward’s body.
Over the course of the next few weeks, officers unearthed more evidence linking the couple to unsolved disappearances.
A huge search operation involving 150 officers was launched and on October 16, they found an arm bone sticking out of the ground belonging to Lesley Ann.
They discovered the badly decomposed body of Kilbride five days later.
On June 30, 1987, the body of Pauline Reade was found buried 3 feet below the ground after Brady finally admitted to her murder.
Keith was lured into a van by Hindley, who drove him to a lay-by on the Moor.
Brady then took him away to sexually assault and murder him while Hindley kept watch.
Keith’s family have fought ever since to recover the little lad’s remains.
After he was transferred from prison to maximum-security hospital Ashworth in November 1985, Brady confessed to Keith’s murder in an interview with reporters.
A search was carried out on the moors a year later, with Hindley joining officers in 1986 and Brady in 1987.
But Keith’s body was never found and it is became a grisly secret Brady took to the grave.
Evil Brady and Hindley slaughtered five children between 1963 and 1965 in a spree that horrified the nation.
Victims, Pauline Reade, 16, John Kilbride, 12, Keith Bennett, 12, Lesley Ann Downey, 10, and Edward Evans, 17, were buried on Saddleworth Moor.
The depraved couple were jailed for life in 1966 for their sickening crimes.
Hindley died in 2002, while Brady became Britain’s longest-serving offender as he served his sentence on suicide watch at Ashworth Hospital.
He died on May 15, 2017, aged 79 after losing his battle with cancer.
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