Moors murderer expresses outrage at TV drama

Moors murderer Ian Brady has expressed his outrage over plans to dramatise his crimes, the BBC reported today.

The 67-year-old killer wrote to Granada Television about the programme, threatening legal action if it is not ditched, the BBC said.

The two-part dramatisation of the 1960s crimes, entitled “See No Evil: The Story Of The Moors Murders” will be broadcast on the 40th anniversary of Brady’s trial alongside Myra Hindley.

Brady said publicity about his crimes is “now rivalling Coronation Street in longevity.”

“The true facts have never been divulged, only speculation in numerous books,” he said.

“The only book written by me is a clinical study on criminal psychology,” he added.

A spokesman for Granada said: “We wrote to Ian Brady’s solicitor to inform him his client would be portrayed in our film, which we assured him would be a sober and unsensational account of the Moors murders and how Ian Brady and Myra Hindley were brought to justice.

“We do not need consent, release or a contract. We’ve not yet received any letter in reply.”

Brady also questioned the show’s impact on the families of his victims.

When the show was announced, ITV said all the victims’ families had given their support to the drama, except that of Edward Evans, 17, who was the final victim, killed in October 1965. Producers have not been able to trace any of his relatives and believe he may have no living family.

Danny Kilbride, brother of second victim John Kilbride, 12, who was murdered in November 1963 after he was picked up at a market, said at the time: “I’ve gone through the script with the producer and it seems accurate.

“These events shouldn’t be forgotten and every time a child goes missing it all comes rushing back.

“The more children are warned not to speak to any strange men or women, the better.”

Writer Neil McKay said: “The drama provides a sober and unsensational account of the most notorious crimes of the last century.

“It tells the extraordinary story of how Ian Brady and Myra Hindley were brought to justice, but the focus is not only on their crimes, but also on the effects of those crimes on the families of their victims and on Myra Hindley’s sister, Maureen.

Executive producer Jeff Pope said: “We felt that now was the right time to make this programme.

“In the anniversary year of the trial when Myra’s heavily pregnant sister Maureen took the stand against her, we’re going to take an in-depth look at how two of Britain’s most notorious child killers were caught.”

The savage murders began in July 1963 with Pauline Reade, 16, who was killed at a remote spot on Saddleworth Moor after being lured into Hindley’s car as she walked along a Manchester street, and continued over the next two years.

The deaths finally came to an end when Hindley’s brother-in-law David Smith witnessed Edward Evans’s murder, and ran to the police with his wife, Hindley’s sister.

Hindley died in November 2002, while Brady is serving his sentence at a high-security hospital.

He has been on hunger strike for six years and is fed through a tube.

The pair only admitted to the killing of two of their victims, Pauline Reade and 12-year-old Keith Bennett, 21 years after they were imprisoned.

Filming will start in Manchester later this year, and the show will be screened in 2006.