Police launch new search for Moors murder victim Keith Bennett after tip off

Detectives are conducting “exploration activity” in an area of Saddleworth Moor after pieces of what are believed to be a child’s jaw and teeth were discovered.

Greater Manchester Police are trying to establish whether they belong to Bennett, who is one of five children who were killed by Ian Brady and his partner Myra Hindley in the early 1960s.

He was just 12-years-old when he left home to visit his grandmother in June 1964 and disappeared.

He is the only Moors murder victim who has never been found and Winnie Johnson spent years urging Brady to reveal the location of her son’s burial, before she died at the age of 78 in 2012.

Greater Manchester Police said it was contacted by an author, who has been researching the murder, shortly before 11.30am on Thursday.

According to the force, the author said he had found “potential human remains” in a remote location on the Moors and he met with officers to “elaborate on his find” and show them the site.

Force Review Officer Martin Bottomley said: “The site was assessed late last night and, this morning, specialist officers have begun initial exploration activity.

“We are in the very early stages of assessing the information which has been brought to our attention but have made the decision to act on it in line with a normal response to a report of this kind.

“It is far too early to be certain whether human remains have been discovered and this is expected to take some time.”

He added: “We have always said that GMP would act on any significant information which may lead to the recovery of Keith and reunite him with his family.

“As such, we have informed his brother of the potential development - he does not wish to be contacted at this time and asks that his privacy is respected.”

Brady and Hindley were jailed for life in 1966 at Chester Assizes.

Hindley died in hospital, aged 60, in 2002 and Brady died in a secure psychiatric unit in 2017, at the age of 79.

Their first victim, 16-year-old Pauline Reade, was murdered in July 1963, but her body was not found until a search of the Moors was conducted in 1987.

John Kilbride was 12 when he disappeared in November 1963, after leaving home to go to the cinema. His body was found in a shallow grave on Saddleworth Moor in October 1965.

Lesley Ann Downey went missing on Boxing Day 1964, after she went to a fairground with a friend and the 10-year-old’s body was found in a shallow peat grave on Saddleworth Moor, in October the following year.

Edward Evans, 17, was last seen by his family when he left home on October 6 in 1965 to go to a football match.

The teenager’s body was then found in a plastic bag the following day, at the house where the killers were living, after Hindley's brother-in-law, David Smith witnessed the murder and phoned the police.