Moors killer Ian Brady demands ‘freedom to end his life’ in jail

Moors murderer Ian Brady wants to go to prison so he is “free to end his life”, a mental health tribunal was told yesterday.

Brady, 75, has brought the tribunal because he wants to be judged sane so he can be transferred to prison from maximum security Ashworth Hospital on Merseyside.

The murderer, who has been on hunger strike since 1999 and is force-fed through a tube, claims he has faked psychotic episodes in the past, the tribunal heard.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The hearing, held at Ashworth and relayed by video to Manchester Civil Justice Centre, gave the first public sighting of the child killer in decades. He and partner Myra Hindley were responsible for the murders of five youngsters in the 1960s.

Brady could be seen occasionally on screen during the evidence, his pale face covered partly by metal-framed dark glasses, his wavy, greying hair in an untidy, Teddy Boy style.

He spoke briefly, in a gravelly, Scottish accent at the start of the hearing, but his words were mostly inaudible.

Expert witness Adrian Grounds, a criminologist, told the hearing that Brady claimed he was feigning mental illness.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He said Brady was of the view that “he could not be force-fed” if he is moved to prison.

According to Dr Grounds, Brady’s behaviour was sometimes insulting, angry and hostile and he had been observed talking to himself on a number of occasions, giving rise to discussions as to whether these were symptoms of psychosis, and there had been times when he appeared to be hallucinating.

But Dr Grounds said the records showed that while in the 1980s Brady displayed mental illness with psychotic symptoms, with “thought blocking”, disordered thoughts, hallucinations and claims that his thoughts were being interfered with, that was not the picture now.

In his opinion, Brady has a very severe personality disorder, which Dr Grounds described as “paranoid narcissistic”, which is “characterised by superiority, self-centredness, contempt, hostility”.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Dr Grounds said: “He’s spoken on a number of occasions about wanting to go to prison so he would be able to die. He has no hope of release, he’s realistic about that, and although he would like a better quality of life in future he knows that won’t happen and he thinks in prison he would be more free to end his life in his own way than is possible in hospital.”

Eleanor Grey QC, representing Ashworth Hospital, which opposes any bid to transfer Brady to prison, cross-examined Dr Grounds.

She said there had been “concerns” since 1967 that Brady had been suffering from psychotic symptoms, possibly since his teens.

Dr Grounds agreed with Miss Grey that there was evidence that Brady concealed his condition, which had worsened in the years before he was transferred to hospital from jail, and it was concluded he was a paranoid schizophrenic.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Forensic psychiatrist Dr Cameron Boyd, the medical member of the panel, conducted four interviews with Brady.

“I asked about previous behaviour that might be seen as abnormal, regarding to his offences,” he said. “He said it was an existential exercise, personal philosophy and interpretation and in some way his behaviour was petty compared to politicians and soldiers in relation to wars.”

Brady and Hindley lured children and teenagers to their deaths, with victims sexually tortured before being buried on Saddleworth Moor above Manchester.

Pauline Reade, 16, disappeared on her way to a disco in 1963 and John Kilbride, 12, was snatched the same year. Keith Bennett was taken in 1964 after he left home to visit his grandmother; Lesley Ann Downey, 10, was lured away from a funfair on Boxing Day that year; and Edward Evans, 17, was killed in 1965.

The tribunal continues today.