Hindley body cremated

BRITAIN’S most reviled woman, “Moors Murderer” Myra Hindley who died last week, was cremated under cover of darkness last night in a ceremony barred to the public.

One woman, however, was allowed to leave a banner near the crematorium reading: "Burn in Hell".

With no family and just a handful of associates present, her body was cremated, along with flowers from a few well-wishers, in a Cambridge service.

Hindley's counsellor Peter Timms said it was now a matter between her and God, and wished her peace.

"One hopes that she can now rest in every sense of the word," said Timms, a Methodist Minister to whom Hindley confessed some murders.

Hindley, who along with lover Ian Brady sexually abused and murdered five children before burying them on bleak moors in northern England, has been a public hate figure for four decades. She died last Friday aged 60 from pneumonia after 36 years in jail.

Her Catholic prison chaplain Reverend Father Michael Teader led last night's service as police and media waited outside.

Hindley's flower-covered coffin was carried in a black hearse surrounded by police escorts.

No crowd tried to gather at the funeral, although 25 police officers stood by in case. "We are aware of what can happen when you get very strong, public sentiment," said Superintendent John Raine.

Police allowed an unidentified woman from the Cambridgeshire village of Soham where two girls were murdered earlier this year in a crime which horrified Britain to enter the area to place her "Burn in Hell" banner.

Funeral services in Bury St Edmunds where Hindley died had refused to be involved.

"I didn't feel comfortable handling the funeral," said Nick Armstrong, one local undertaker approached by authorities over the funeral.

"There would be some people who would not want their mum or dad to travel in the same hearse as Myra Hindley has travelled in."

Hindley, Britain's longest serving female prisoner, always maintained she was driven to participate in the murders by Brady, a petty criminal said to be fascinated by Nazi killings and death. He is still in jail.