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Ian and Myra met while working for a chemical company in Hyde, Greater Manchester, England. She thought he was quite an intellectual as he sat in the lunch room reading Mein Kampf in German. As their love blossomed they became more obsessed with Nazi paraphernalia, pornography and sadism. At first they enjoyed shooting pictures of themselves in the buff and in S & M drag. They thought they could crack the local porn market with their pictures but failed. Soon they proved to be more successful in child abduction and murder.
Most of their victims were children whom they sexually molested before killing. These sadist lovebirds liked to document their murderous deeds. They kept an extensive collection of photographs of their victims as well as a recording of the screams of one girl's torturous end. In 1966 they were arrested after Ian bragged about his killings to Myra's brother-in-law. When the brother-in-law doubted his ability to kill, Ian smoked a young man right in front of him. The brother-in-law did not react appropriately. Instead of showing admiration, he went to the cops. Twenty years after their arrest, Ian confessed to four new murders the police had never linked to them.
In December 1995, Hindley, who is in the same jail in northern England as fellow serial killer Rosemary West, gave her first public account of her crime spree, admitting she had been wicked and corrupt but claiming she was now a changed woman. Hindley described herself as a political prisoner who was being used as a scapegoat by politicians and the media. The formerly montruous killer said: "The majority of people don't want to accept that people like myself can change, They prefer to keep me frozen in time together with that awful mugshot so that their attitudes, beliefs and perceptions can remain intact." On February, 1997, her lawyers made a plea to win her release. However, a London Superior Court decreed that Myra will spend the rest of her life behind bars with no possibility of parole.
On May 21 the High Court announced a judicial review of their 1990 decision of imposing a "whole-life" sentence on the aging neo-Nazi convicted killer. Hindley's lawyers will argue that the decision did not reflect the views of the judge in the case, Mr. Justice Fenton, who recommended only that she serve "a very long time." According to her lawyers the "whole-life" sentence represented an "irrational leap" from the 30-year period fixed by the Home Office in 1985.
On November 21 supporters of Myra called for a review of sentencing procedures after Jack Straw reaffirmed the decision of his predecessor, Michael Howard, of never releasing Myra from prison. The ruling came under immediate attack from penal reformers and civil liberties campaigners.
Lord Longford, Britain's leading prison reformer, expressed "total disgust and contempt" and described her as a "good woman". He told BBC Radio 4's Today show: "I am very sorry indeed that a high-minded man, a Christian socialist like Jack Straw should have taken that decision. Of course it's all as a result of the horrifying pressure exerted by the tabloids." Lord Longford said that Hindley had been a good young woman "until she began to work under a very gifted, but mentally disturbed man, Ian Brady. She was an infatuated accomplice 31 years ago".
On October 7, 1998 Myra concluded a hearing at the Court of Appeals trying to overrule her "whole-life tarriff." In her new attempt at overturning her life sentence and win the right to a parole hearing, Hindley claimed that she can prove that she took part in the Moors murders only because Brady abused her, and threatened to kill her mother, grandmother and younger sister.
Freedom seeking Myra alleges that trigger-happy Ian bit, strangled, whipped, drugged and even blackmailed her into taking part in the murders. He lawyers claim that new material that will be presented to court includes photographs taken by Brady showing her naked with bruises and injuries caused by bites, whips and canes. Then again, they did have a sado-masochistic relationship, and bruises and bite marks are something that goes with the territory.
Brady, 60, now a patient at Ashworth Special Hospital in Merseyside, responded saying that "33 years of duplicity" had driven "her into the realms of psychotic delusion and absurdity". He also claimed that the bruises were faked using lipstick in their attempt at selling pornographic pictures. The cooperative type, Brady has said he would release "sick" letters to the highest bidder that she wrote to him up to six years after they were convicted. Any payment, he added, should go to victims' families.
This latest court action represents the third strategy Hindley has adopted since conviction. At first she stayed silent, and then later revealed evidence of other murders in a fruitless bid to convince the public that she had reformed. Now she is claiming that she took part in the crimes unwillingly.
Brady has condemning Hindley's attempt to blame him for the killings and released a six-page letter he sent to the Home Secretary. Brady wrote: "Hindley, in her usual Barbara Cartland prose, has created a Victorian melodrama in which she portrays herself as being forced to murder serially, by being drugged, blackmailed, whipped, raped, battered, having her family threatened with slaughter, bitten, strangled etc, etc.
"At first I was staggered and appalled, then as the catalogue of feverish crimes mounted to stultification level, I slowly realised that desperation had finally driven her over the top. It appears that the neurosis bred by her own pathological machinations has developed into psychosis. She appears to be suffering from a histrionic personality disorder, adopting manipulative attention seeking behaviour . . . an obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, concealing a strong tendency towards rebellion and acting on impulse."
On September 21, 2001, Brady was given permission to publish his book on serial killers by the hospital for the criminally insane where his is serving his sentence. On September 11, the hospital was granted a court order to obtain a copy of the manuscript and block its publication. After determining that the book, "The Gates of Janus," contained no references to the hospital or Brady's own crimes, a lawyer representing the hospital announced that they were not opposed to the publication of the book.
On November 15 , 2002, Myra -- Britain's most reviled killer -- died of bronchial pneumonia due to problems with her heart. Home Office pathologist Dr Michael Heath told the hearing the 60-year-old suffered from high blood pressure and poor blood supply to the heart, resulting in blocked coronary arteries. At the time of her death, Myra was Britain's longest serving woman prisoner.
Not the most loved person in the UK, the tabloid press held her in contempt even after death -- "The Final Injustice: She Died Peacefully," read the front page headline of the Daily Mail. Though some people lobbied for her release after serving 36 years, most remain horrified about her claims of "having paid her debt to society." Ironically, by the time her smoked-ravaged lungs gave out, she was on the threshhold of being released.
Ian and Myra met while working for a chemical company in Hyde, Greater Manchester, England. She thought he was quite an intellectual as he sat in the lunch room reading Mein Kampf in German. As their love blossomed they became more obsessed with Nazi paraphernalia, pornography and sadism. At first they enjoyed shooting pictures of themselves in the buff and in S & M drag. They thought they could crack the local porn market with their pictures but failed. Soon they proved to be more successful in child abduction and murder.
Most of their victims were children whom they sexually molested before killing. These sadist lovebirds liked to document their murderous deeds. They kept an extensive collection of photographs of their victims as well as a recording of the screams of one girl's torturous end. In 1966 they were arrested after Ian bragged about his killings to Myra's brother-in-law. When the brother-in-law doubted his ability to kill, Ian smoked a young man right in front of him. The brother-in-law did not react appropriately. Instead of showing admiration, he went to the cops. Twenty years after their arrest, Ian confessed to four new murders the police had never linked to them.
In December 1995, Hindley, who is in the same jail in northern England as fellow serial killer Rosemary West, gave her first public account of her crime spree, admitting she had been wicked and corrupt but claiming she was now a changed woman. Hindley described herself as a political prisoner who was being used as a scapegoat by politicians and the media. The formerly montruous killer said: "The majority of people don't want to accept that people like myself can change, They prefer to keep me frozen in time together with that awful mugshot so that their attitudes, beliefs and perceptions can remain intact." On February, 1997, her lawyers made a plea to win her release. However, a London Superior Court decreed that Myra will spend the rest of her life behind bars with no possibility of parole.
On May 21 the High Court announced a judicial review of their 1990 decision of imposing a "whole-life" sentence on the aging neo-Nazi convicted killer. Hindley's lawyers will argue that the decision did not reflect the views of the judge in the case, Mr. Justice Fenton, who recommended only that she serve "a very long time." According to her lawyers the "whole-life" sentence represented an "irrational leap" from the 30-year period fixed by the Home Office in 1985.
On November 21 supporters of Myra called for a review of sentencing procedures after Jack Straw reaffirmed the decision of his predecessor, Michael Howard, of never releasing Myra from prison. The ruling came under immediate attack from penal reformers and civil liberties campaigners.
Lord Longford, Britain's leading prison reformer, expressed "total disgust and contempt" and described her as a "good woman". He told BBC Radio 4's Today show: "I am very sorry indeed that a high-minded man, a Christian socialist like Jack Straw should have taken that decision. Of course it's all as a result of the horrifying pressure exerted by the tabloids." Lord Longford said that Hindley had been a good young woman "until she began to work under a very gifted, but mentally disturbed man, Ian Brady. She was an infatuated accomplice 31 years ago".
On October 7, 1998 Myra concluded a hearing at the Court of Appeals trying to overrule her "whole-life tarriff." In her new attempt at overturning her life sentence and win the right to a parole hearing, Hindley claimed that she can prove that she took part in the Moors murders only because Brady abused her, and threatened to kill her mother, grandmother and younger sister.
Freedom seeking Myra alleges that trigger-happy Ian bit, strangled, whipped, drugged and even blackmailed her into taking part in the murders. He lawyers claim that new material that will be presented to court includes photographs taken by Brady showing her naked with bruises and injuries caused by bites, whips and canes. Then again, they did have a sado-masochistic relationship, and bruises and bite marks are something that goes with the territory.
Brady, 60, now a patient at Ashworth Special Hospital in Merseyside, responded saying that "33 years of duplicity" had driven "her into the realms of psychotic delusion and absurdity". He also claimed that the bruises were faked using lipstick in their attempt at selling pornographic pictures. The cooperative type, Brady has said he would release "sick" letters to the highest bidder that she wrote to him up to six years after they were convicted. Any payment, he added, should go to victims' families.
This latest court action represents the third strategy Hindley has adopted since conviction. At first she stayed silent, and then later revealed evidence of other murders in a fruitless bid to convince the public that she had reformed. Now she is claiming that she took part in the crimes unwillingly.
Brady has condemning Hindley's attempt to blame him for the killings and released a six-page letter he sent to the Home Secretary. Brady wrote: "Hindley, in her usual Barbara Cartland prose, has created a Victorian melodrama in which she portrays herself as being forced to murder serially, by being drugged, blackmailed, whipped, raped, battered, having her family threatened with slaughter, bitten, strangled etc, etc.
"At first I was staggered and appalled, then as the catalogue of feverish crimes mounted to stultification level, I slowly realised that desperation had finally driven her over the top. It appears that the neurosis bred by her own pathological machinations has developed into psychosis. She appears to be suffering from a histrionic personality disorder, adopting manipulative attention seeking behaviour . . . an obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, concealing a strong tendency towards rebellion and acting on impulse."
On September 21, 2001, Brady was given permission to publish his book on serial killers by the hospital for the criminally insane where his is serving his sentence. On September 11, the hospital was granted a court order to obtain a copy of the manuscript and block its publication. After determining that the book, "The Gates of Janus," contained no references to the hospital or Brady's own crimes, a lawyer representing the hospital announced that they were not opposed to the publication of the book.
On November 15 , 2002, Myra -- Britain's most reviled killer -- died of bronchial pneumonia due to problems with her heart. Home Office pathologist Dr Michael Heath told the hearing the 60-year-old suffered from high blood pressure and poor blood supply to the heart, resulting in blocked coronary arteries. At the time of her death, Myra was Britain's longest serving woman prisoner.
Not the most loved person in the UK, the tabloid press held her in contempt even after death -- "The Final Injustice: She Died Peacefully," read the front page headline of the Daily Mail. Though some people lobbied for her release after serving 36 years, most remain horrified about her claims of "having paid her debt to society." Ironically, by the time her smoked-ravaged lungs gave out, she was on the threshhold of being released. |
