Police arrested, and later bailed, Jackie Powell (49), “Moors Murderer” Ian Brady’s mental health advocate, hoping to find a letter from the killer detailing the location of his fifth children victim, Keith Bennett (12).

Ian Brady and his partner Myra Hindley tortured and murdered five children between 1963 and 1965. Keith Bennett’s body was the only one the police did not recover.

The Greater Manchester Police released a statement revealing they hoped a letter from Brady to Powell would reveal where the young boy was buried. The other bodies were all found in the moorland outside Manchester, in England.


Their statement, reported by the Associated Press, read “On 30 July 2012, Greater Manchester Police received information that led officers to believe that Ian Brady had recently given details of the location of Keith Bennett's body to one of his long-term visitors.”

The police were following a lead they received after an interview Powell had given to a Channel 4 documentary crew who recently released a film on the “Moors Murders”.

On Thursday Powell who has worked as Brady’s mental health advocate for 13 years told the police that she had returned all documents back to her patient, according to the London Independent.

Police have been working closely with the Ashworth hospital, a psychiatric institution where Brady (now 74) is being held. He has been held at this facility since he was declared insane.

Brady was convicted of three murders and later confessed to two more.

Keith Bennet went missing on 16th June 1964. He left home to visit his grandmother and was never seen again. His family has relentlessly campaigned to find the 12-year-old’s body. Last December Winnie Johnson, the boy’s mother who is seriously ill with cancer, said she wanted Brady to tell her in person where her son’s remains were.

On their website Alan, Keith’s brother, said “It is good news that the police have finally been able to search Brady’s room and make an arrest…I would say that, until some definite information is found regarding Keith’s whereabouts, we do not want to raise our hopes too high.”

Hindley, Brady’s girlfriend and partner in crime, died in 2002, aged 60.

Here’s an earlier IBTimes report on the story: