Brother of Keith Bennett makes plea for a new search of the moors

Alan Bennett the only brother of Keith Bennett, the only unfound victim of Moors Murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley has asked Saddleworth News, along with other media organisations, to help publicise an e-petition aimed at renewing the search for Keith.

Flowers left in memory of Keith on Saddleworth Moor. Photo: Stuart Littleford.

Alan said: “The other victims have all been given proper funerals and their families are able to visit the resting places they chose for them; my family is yet to be given this opportunity and to allow a proper grieving process to begin.

“During the original investigation in 1965/1966 it was not known for certain whether Brady and Hindley had murdered my brother Keith and also a young girl named Pauline Reade. However, in the mid 1980s Brady and Hindley confessed to killing them and an official search began. Pauline’s body was recovered in 1987 but soon after a decision was taken to call off the search, leaving us in limbo. In 2003, the case was looked at again and the search for Keith was resumed but without success.

“Together with my partner Carol Ann Lee, I have gathered compelling new evidence, much of which we received from interviews with David Smith, chief prosecution witness at the Moors trial in 1966, and also from another source who was once very close to Ian Brady. I have presented this to the police but they failed to act on it and did not even interview David Smith themselves, even though he made it clear he was willing to speak at length to detectives and also to return to the moor.

“David Smith died in May this year, but the interviews we conducted with him were recorded, together with notes on the maps and photographs we had sent him and which he then discussed in depth as being significant.

“The other source was someone who corresponded with and visited Brady for a long time; Brady asked this person to visit the moor and photograph certain sites. These photographs were taken in the area that ties in directly with the information given by David Smith, who was taken just once to the moor by Peter Topping in December 1987. David found it very confusing, as there was 2-3 feet of snow on the ground in most places, and he was never taken to the relevant area – a specific area of the moor, which I would describe as the width of no more than two football pitches.

“I have a forum dedicated to Keith: searchingforkeith.forumcircle.com/index.php.

“Myself and other forum members – of which there are many – are certain that a new, official search using this recent evidence could bring Keith home. I cannot even begin to describe what this would mean to my family.

“On 16^th October, an e-petition was started urging the authorities to resume their search for Keith: epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/40262. I hope this will show how much the public support the search and I will be actively promoting the petition over the coming year.”

Author: Jude Gidney - Editor

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