The Moors Murderers by Chris Cook

 

Many people have heard of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, often referred to as the evilest couple in English history.  In the 1960's, they had a two year murder spree as they kidnapped, tortured and then killed young children, burying them on the nearby moors.  In this book, Chris Cook outlines the case after extensive research, delineating each murder victim and the murder timeline.

Myra Hindley was an average girl growing up but changed after she met Ian Brady at work.  He was a moody, temperamental man who was unpopular at work but she was attracted to him.  Soon they were a couple and remained so for several years.  Myra would do anything Ian told her to do even though he was also physically and mentally abusive to her.  He was racist and idolized the Nazis and Adolf Hitler.  He seemed to want to kill someone just for the thrill of it and to have a secret that others knew nothing about.

In all five murders can be tracked to the couple although police feel that there were more than that.  The young victims, ten to fourteen, were buried on the moor.  The couple took other children to the burial spots but did not kill them.  They also took numerous photographs and audio tapes of the murders which helped the police find the graves.  They were caught when they killed an older victim in front of Myra's brother-in-law, assuming that he would be on board with their plans.  Instead, he and his wife went to the police the next morning and turned the couple in.  

This is the first book and is about the actual murders.  A second book covers the trials and the imprisonment years of the couple.  They remained enthralled with each other for years after their sentencing, writing to each other in code to relive their memories of murder.  This book has been extensively researched with photographs of the couple and their victims, many of which have not been available prior to publication.  The evil of this couple will ensure that they go down in the annals of true crime as models of depravity and horror yet to the average eye they seemed a common couple.  This book is recommended for true crime readers.