Myra Hindley (1942-2002) was notorious as one of the Moors Murderers; with her partner and accomplice Ian Brady she was guilty of the kidnap, sexual abuse and murder of several children and teenagers in the early 1960s.[1] The crimes took place in the small towns east of Manchester, north-west England; most of the bodies were buried on nearby Saddleworth Moor; at least one has not been recovered.
At their trial of Hindley and Brady in 1966 Hindley was found guilty of the murders of a 10-year-old girl and a 17 year old youth, and of being accessory to the murder of a twelve-year-old boy. Brady was found guilty of all three murders; both were sentenced to life imprisonment. The trial was played a tape recording made by the couple of the abuse and murder of the ten-year old Lesley Ann Downey.
in 1987 the couple confessed to two further killings: of a 16-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy.
Hindley claimed to have repented of her crimes and to have reformed, blamed Brady for instigating the crimes, and conducted a well-publicised campaign for her release from prison, in which she was encouraged and supported by Lord Longford, bringing further pain to the families of her victims. However, Home Secretary Jack Straw ruled that the should serve a whole life sentence; this decision was upheld by appeal court and House of Lords judgements. Hindley was still a prisoner at the time of her death from a chest infection.