The Moors Murders: Inside the Twisted Partnership of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley

A few years before the Manson murders horrified America, England endured its own period of shock.

Ian Brady and Myra Hindley were a toxic couple that killed together. Their victims ranged in age from 10 to 17 years. After a two-year killing spree, they were turned in by their own family in 1965.

Brady was a self-described existentialist who lived with reckless abandon, regardless of the consequences. He met Hindley at work in Manchester. Hindley was smitten with the shy, handsome man and continually tried to get his attention. He finally noticed her after about one year.

During one of their first dates, Brady tested Hindley’s Catholic faith by urinating against a church wall. She wasn’t fazed. In fact, she found him exhilarating. He talked about practicing existential exercises, with murder being among them. Rather than recoil at the thought, according to Brady, Hindley chose their first victim. 

Pauline Reade, 16, was on her way to a local dance on July 12, 1963, when Hindley asked Pauline to help her find a lost glove. They drove to Saddleworth Moor, an isolated area about 15 miles out of town. Brady later confessed to sexually assaulting and killing Pauline, but the exact roles he and Hindley played in the crime remain unclear. They buried her at the moor.

It turned out that Pauline was a former girlfriend of Hindley’s sister’s boyfriend. Brady was angry that their first kill had such a close connection that could potentially link them to the crime.

Hindley approached John Kilbride, 12, on November 23, 1963. She asked him to help carry boxes to her car, then offered to take him home. Again, they sexually assaulted and killed John at Saddleworth Moor. They dug a shallow grave. The following year, they visited this grave and Brady took a photo of Hindley holding a puppy there.

On June 16, 1964, their third victim became Keith Bennett, 12, who was on his way to his grandmother’s house when Hindley lured him into her car. They drove to the moor. Brady claimed that Hindley held the boy’s legs as Brady sexually assaulted him and then strangled him with a piece of string.

Their next victim was Lesley Ann Downey, 10, who was at a fair on December 26, 1964. Hindley used the same ruse as with John. Instead of taking Lesley Ann home, Hindley drove to her house. The couple made Lesley Ann pose nude, snapping at least nine photos. The couple then sexually assaulted her. According to Brady, Hindley insisted on strangling Lesley Ann with a silk cord. They buried her at the moor the following day. 

Edward Evans, 17, was the couple’s final victim. On October 6, 1965, Edward went to see soccer team Manchester United play. This time, Brady lured the boy to Hindley’s house. Brady was planning a robbery with Hindley’s brother-in-law, David Smith, who was present during this murder, and wanted to test his partner’s resolve. While Edward was seated, Brady grabbed a hatchet and struck him on the head. The first blow didn’t kill him, so Brady ended up striking Evans 14 times. Smith went home and called the police the following morning. 

A search of the house revealed the body. Brady was arrested, and as police uncovered evidence of the other murders, so was Hindley. 

The couple was separated while incarcerated and would only see each other briefly as they were going in and out of court. One time, Brady advised Hindley to put some small flakes of tobacco in her eyes to produce tears. 

The torture and murder of children was heinous enough, but jurors were aghast when they heard a 16-minute tape recording of Lesley Ann pleading for her life. She was heard screaming, “Please, God help me,” and begging for them to let her go. “I want to see Mummy,” Lesley Ann cried. It moved much of the courtroom to tears, including the judge and police officers. Some people left in horror.

England was particularly shocked that a woman would participate in such gruesome acts. Brady and Hindley were convicted and sentenced in 1966 to life in prison for the murders of Lesley Ann and Edward. Brady was also convicted of killing John, whereas Hindley was convicted as an accessory in that murder. They avoided the death penalty because the country outlawed it in 1965. Roughly 20 years later, the couple confessed to Pauline and Keith's murders.

Brady had accepted his fate the moment he was arrested, but he claimed he still cared for Hindley, while she largely blamed him for her actions. In a story for The Guardian, Hindley wrote, “After the first murder, when he'd told me that if I'd shown any signs of backing out I would have ended up in the same grave as Pauline Reade, I felt doubly doomed; first by the crime itself and also because I believed it was impossible to envisage or hope for any other kind of existence.”

Lesley Ann’s older brother blamed himself for not accompanying her to the fair; her mother blamed herself as well. Pauline’s mother said that her daughter still felt close to her. John’s mother set an extra dinner plate at the table for years.

Photos taken at the site of the murders along with Brady and Hindley’s confessions helped authorities find the remains of four victims. It’s presumed that Keith was also buried in the moor, though his body has not been found. Hindley claimed she didn’t know where it was. She died of bronchial pneumonia in 2002. 

Brady eventually developed a number of health issues. The police and Keith’s family made one last push, begging him on his death bed to reveal the location of his body. He refused. When he died in 2017, he took that secret with him.