What were the Moors Murders and who were Ian Brady and Myra Hindley?

Almost 60 years ago, the entire nation was left shocked by the unthinkable and evil crimes of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley.

The heinous pair carried out the Moors murders between 1963 and 1965. They killed five innocent children.

Today (September 30), it has been revealed that police are back digging on Saddleworth Moor for one of those victims, Keith Bennett. A skull has been uncovered and police are preparing to dig an area.

READ MORE: Police are 'back on the moors looking for the remains of Keith Bennett'

Keith, 12, was snatched 58 years ago and his body has never been found. But what actually happened and what are the Moors murders?

The shocking killings were carried out between July 1963 and October 1965, in and around Greater Manchester. Wicked lovers Brady and Myra Hindley, both aged in their 20s, lured children and teenagers to their deaths, then buried them on bleak Saddleworth Moor in the south Pennines.

At least four of these victims were sexually assaulted. Their victims were Pauline Reade, 16, John Kilbride, 12, Keith Bennett, 12, Lesley Ann Downey, 10, and Edward Evans, 17.

Pauline Reade disappeared on her way to a disco on July 12, 1963. John Kilbride was snatched from a market in Ashton-under-Lyne in November of the same year.

Keith Bennett was taken on June 16, 1964 after he left home to visit his grandmother in Longsight. Lesley Ann Downey was lured away from a funfair in Ancoats on Boxing Day 1964.

She was stripped, sexually abused and tortured, with her last moments captured on a harrowing audio recording which reduced the judge, jury, courtroom spectators and even hardened police officers to tears during the trial. Edward Evans, an apprentice engineer who lived in Ardwick, was killed in October 1965.

Brady and Hindley later took snapshots of themselves standing over the graves. The bodies of John, Lesley Ann and Edward were discovered at the time of the latest killing, in October 1965.

Edward, who was battered to death with an axe, was found in an upstairs room at Brady's home. Keith's body has never been found.

Lesley Ann's body was discovered on Saddleworth Moor on October 16 after a tip-off to the police by a 12-year-old neighbour who had been there with the couple. Photos of the moor found at the house also led to the discovery of John Kilbride there later that month.

Brady was jailed for life at Chester Assizes in 1966 for the murders of John, Lesley Ann and Edward. Hindley was convicted of killing Lesley Ann and Edward and shielding Brady after John's murder, and jailed for life.

In 1987, Brady finally confessed to the murders of Pauline Reade and Keith Bennett but he was never tried for the crimes. He died in 2017 aged 79.

Hindley, characterised as 'the most evil woman in Britain' died in prison in 2002 at the age of 60.

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