Ian Brady: what newly released Home Office files reveal

Moors murderer had access to vulnerable
teenagers in Wormwood Scrubs

In Depth

Brady and his girlfriend Myra Hindley were both sentenced to
life in prison over the torture, sexual abuse and murders of five
children between 1963 and 1965. They made audio recordings of their
victims’ ordeals and buried their remains on Saddleworth Moor.

After the couple were jailed, in 1966, Hindley campaigned for
parole, but neither was ever released, despite some high-profile
supporters who felt they were treated unfairly. Hindley died in
2002, while Brady lived for another 15 years. 

What do the newly released files show?

The Home Office has released documents, seen by the BBC, which reveal that while in prison, Brady
was allowed to mix with vulnerable teenagers for a period extending
about five years, between 1976 and 1981.

These youngsters, some as young as 15, had been transferred
to Feltham Borstal to the Wormwood Scrubs Hospital
because they were suffering from mental health
problems. But Brady had been placed in a
room on the Mental Observation Landing, after going on hunger
strike in protest at not being allowed to associate with other
inmates.

His privileges were subsequently extended, according to the
broadcaster, which reports that Brady was “allowed to watch
television with other patients and given duties that enabled him to
move beyond the landing, cleaning toilets and showers”.

This suggests that he would have had the opportunity to have sex
with other prisoners, says Peter Meakings, an assistant governor at
the prison at the time. Meakings told the broadcaster: “As the
landing cleaner, Brady wouldn’t just have had free run of the
passageway outside the rooms, where there were officers
supervising, he would also have had access to the toilets.”

As early as 1976, a prison medical officer wrote of Brady: “He
takes an unusual interest in any adolescent inmate who may be
located on the landing and his influence in such a situation is
certainly not a wholesome one.”

The killer’s years of comparative liberty came to an end in the
autumn of 1981, when a young borstal boy reported having sex with
him. Brady lost his job and its associated privileges and was moved
to Parkhurst, on the Isle of Wight, the following year. He was
later moved to Ashworth Secure Hospital, where he died at the age
of 79.

How did Brady get these privileges?

Brady was considered a psychopath by prison authorities – and
just plain evil by many other people who knew him. He exercised
whatever power he could over others: it is thought that is why he
refused to reveal where he had buried 12-year-old Keith Bennett,
the only Moors Murders victim who has never been found, despite
repeated pleas from Bennett’s mother.

During his many years in prison, Brady made a series of official
complaints about his living conditions, sending letters to the
government, meeting with high-profile supporters including Lord
Longford, and staging a number of hunger strikes. But he never
achieved his ultimate goal – to be allowed conjugal visits with
Myra Hindley.

However, Brady did succeed in getting “a degree of special
treatment”, says the BBC. Perhaps significantly, alongside the
homoerotic novels that he was allowed by one prison governor, he
asked for and got a copy of the works of Machiavelli.