Moors murder search called off

Moors murderer Ian Brady, still being held in Ashworth high security hospital 45 years after he and Myra Hindley (above left) murdered five children, will have learned this morning that the police search for the remains of Keith Bennett, the only victim not to be found, has been called off.

Greater Manchester Police announced " with regret" that the massive hunt on Saddleworth Moor near Oldham, launched last year, had been unsuccessful. Brady (above right) refused to cooperate with the police and, according to a report by the Manchester Evening News, officers have no plans to interview him again. His accomplice Hindley, the only other person to know Keith's burial place, died in custody in 2002 at the age of 60.

Keith Bennett was 12 when he disappeared from a Manchester street on June 16, 1964. His mother, Winnie Johnson, now 75, had hoped that new forensic techniques would allow the police to find his remains. "I'm devastated the police are unable to carry on looking," she told reporters. "When they told me I burst into tears."

Detective Chief Superintendent Steve Heywood said: "The Moors Murders have cast a long and dark shadow over the history of our region.

"We had all hoped that we would find the body of that little boy who was taken so cruelly away all those years ago and finally allow his family to lay him to rest. Sadly we have not found his body and we reluctantly have to say that for now we have exhausted all of the avenues available to us."

Referring to Brady, he added: "In the end, one man holds the key to where Keith Bennett's body is. One act of humanity would help Winnie find some peace and allow her to give her son the burial she so desperately wants.

"We are very disappointed we have not located Keith's remains, but we will never close this case and remain open to pursuing any new lines of inquiry which may come about as a result of significant scientific advances or credible and actionable information." ·