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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Paul Byrne

Brother of Moors Murder victim 'annoyed and confused' over claims remains have been found

The brother of Moors Murders victim Keith Bennett says he is “frustrated, annoyed, and confused” over claims a child’s remains have been found by an amateur sleuth.

Ian Brady and Myra Hindley buried Keith, 12, and three other youngsters on Saddleworth Moor in the early 1960s.

Keith's body is the only one not recovered and fresh hopes were raised last Friday after author Russell Edwards said he believed he had discovered a piece of a child’s jawbone in the earth.

In the wake of his claims, police forensic teams, helped by a drone, spent a third day searching the moorland today.

But Keith’s brother Alan believes they are looking in the wrong place.

Police tents and search teams back up on Saddleworth Moor yesterday (Craig Hannah / SWNS)

And writing on Facebook, he added: “Just to be clear about this. I’m not saying there is nothing there, what I will say is that I, and many others are confused, to say the very least.

“I still believe Keith is not in that location and I still believe there were no other victims. However, nobody can rule anything else out. I just cannot understand why nothing has been found.”

He added: “I am just getting frustrated, annoyed, confused and feeling a lot more emotions because there is more to this than meets the eye and I cannot understand why that bloke appears not to have been exact in his information to the police about the location.”

He continued: “There’s a lot more I would like to say and ask but out of respect and gratitude for the Cold Case Team and the Forensic Team I’ll keep quiet for now.”

Keith Bennett, 12, is the only body not recovered (PA)
Police searching the Moors (Matthew Lofthouse / SWNS)

After a second day of searching high on the windswept moor yesterday, Greater Manchester Police said their efforts had so far been in vain.

Senior Investigating Officer Cheryl Hughes said: “No physical evidence of a jaw bone or skull has been examined.”

She added: “Conditions are difficult and it may take us some time to fully complete the excavation, but we are committed to ensuring this is undertaken in the most thorough way possible.”

Keith was last seen by his mother in the early evening of June 16, 1964 after he left home in Eston Street, Longsight, Manchester, on his way to his grandmother’s house nearby.

Moors murderer Myra Hindley (AFP/Getty Images)
Ian Brady died in a high-security hospital in 2017 (PA)

Brady and Hindley’s other victims were Pauline Reade, 16, who disappeared on her way to a disco on July 12 1963; John Kilbride, 12, who was snatched in November the same year; Lesley Ann Downey, 10, who was lured away from a funfair on Boxing Day 1964; and Edward Evans, 17, who was axed to death in October 1965.

The bodies of Lesley, John and Pauline were later unearthed from the moors.

Hindley, 60, died in jail in 2002 and Brady, 79, died in a high-security hospital in 2017.

The pair had been jailed for life in 1966.

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