MOORS MURDER HOPE
THE apocalyptic fire raging on Saddleworth Moor could help solve the 54-year-old mystery of where Ian Brady buried victim Keith Bennett, it has today been suggested.
Monster Brady never revealed the whereabouts of the 12-year-old boy’s remains, who was abducted while riding his bike in June 1964.
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He was the last of the fiend's five child murder victims.
Before she died, Keith’s mother Winnie Johnson said that she would settle for finding “a sliver of bone” in order to give him a decent burial.
However, Brady, who died last year, played mind games with her by refusing to tell her where he had buried her son.
Keith’s younger brother Alan was today still searching for his sibling’s grave and his friend, lawyer John Ainley, admitted the fire devastating the region could bring an end to the mystery.
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He said: “It’s a double edged sword.
"In tackling the blaze, firefighters could stumble over Keith’s remains but equally their intervention could destroy evidence once and for all.”
John, aged 70 years, can see the blaze gathering pace from the windows of his law firm’s offices in Oldham, and from his home in Grass Croft, near Uppermill, Lancashire.
John , who has taken part in digs to find Keith’s lost grave, said: “It would be a great relief all round if his last resting place was found so let’s hope a discovery turns out to be a positive by product of this disastrous fire.”
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Brady carried a length of rope and a spade with which he killed Keith while his then girlfriend, the late Myra Hindley, is said to have kept a look out for police from a rock.
It comes as exhausted firefighters will be helped by 100 soldiers as they battle the blaze which fire chiefs said may last for weeks as the scorching weather continues.
The troops from the 4th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland, will join more than 100 firefighters who have been working rolling 12-hour shifts to tackle the seven square miles of Saddleworth Moor, smouldering with pockets of fire since Sunday.
An RAF Chinook is also on stand-by should Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) request helicopter help to airlift heavy equipment to the high ground.
But Assistant Chief Fire Officer Tony Hunter, said what they needed most to end the blaze was rain - but none has been forecast.
Evacuated families cough as smoke from the 'biggest fire in living memory' rages on Saddleworth Moor
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He said: "We have not seen an indication of any rain coming within the next couple of days stroke weeks, so we can see this being prolonged for days, if not weeks.
"It is dependent on a downpour of rain - and it would have to be a significant downpour of rain because it is so dry it would be absorbed very, very quickly.”
It has seen homes evacuated and schools closed.
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