What happened to Keith Bennett – and why didn’t Moors murderers reveal where his body was?

Keith Bennett was one of the victims of the UK’s most notorious killers, Moors Murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, but he is the only victim who’s body has never been found — here’s what happened to him

Keith Bennett went missing 58 years ago (

Image: Press Association)

Police have restarted the search for the body of Moors murder victim Keith Bennett after “potential human remains” were found on Saddleworth Moor.

Keith Bennett was one of the five victims of Moors Murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, who killed the children between July 1963 and October 1965.

Keith was the only victim whose body was never found after Brady and Hindley refused to give up the location to the police.

Greater Manchester Police’s Martin Bottomley said that police had been contacted on Thursday by the representative of an author who has been researching the murders.

He said: “Following direct contact with the author, we were informed that he had discovered what he believes are potential human remains in a remote location on the Moors and he agreed to meet with officers yesterday afternoon to elaborate on his find and direct us to a site of interest.

“The site was assessed late last night and, this morning, specialist officers have begun initial exploration activity.”

As the search of the area continues, here’s what happened to Keith Bennett and why his killers never revealed where they buried him.

What happened to Keith Bennett? Keith’s mother spent years searching for her son (

Image:

Mirrorpix)

Keith Bennett was just 12 years old when he was abducted by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley and was the killers’ third victim.

The young boy was last seen on June 16 1964 while on his way to visit his grandmother in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester.

During the walk, Keith was lured into a van by Hindley, who asked him to help load boxes, she then drove him to a lay-by on the moor.

Brady, who had been in the van, then took Keith into the moor and returned alone, saying that he had sexually assaulted and strangled Keith.

Initially, Brady and Hindley were only charged with the murders of three children, John Kilbride, Lesley Ann Downey and Edward Evans.

However in 1985 Brady confessed to also murdering Keith Bennett and Pauline Reade. Following the confession, police took both Brady and Hindley to the moors separately to assist with searches for the bodies.

In 1987 Pauline’s body was finally found, but police were still unable to locate the body of Keith.

Why didn’t Ian Brady and Myra Hindley reveal where Keith Bennett’s body was? Brady always refused to give up the location of the body (

Image:

PA)

For decades, Brady and Hindley refused to give up the location of Bennett’s body.

Bennett’s mother Winnie Johnson spent years trying to track down her son’s body but died tragically without ever finding him.

Despite pleas from the police and Keith’s family, the killers remained silent about the location of the body.

Crime fiction author Howard Linskey, who studied Brady and appeared on the Moors documentary Written in Blood, believes that Brady refused to give up the location as part of a sick game for attention.

He told the Daily Star : “He was not the kind of person who would voluntarily have ever given up anything like the location of the body because that’s all he had left.

“That was his only bargaining chip, his only collateral if you like. Once everybody knew where the bodies were and discovered them all there would be no real reason to give him any more attention.”

He added: “That’s to an extent what he craved. He didn’t really have anything else, he was a fairly sad individual.

“People tend to think of him as a bit of a criminal mastermind running the police and the families ragged, but that was the only game he had left to play.”

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