The third woman I will be covering is Myra Hindley.
Myra Hindley was born on July 23, 1942, in Crumpsall, United Kingdom. She lived in the suburbs of Manchester. Unlike the last two women I wrote about, Hindley did not grow up in any sort of traumatic or abusive household. Her father served in World War II, so he was absent for the first three years of her life. Hindley was the oldest child and had no siblings until her father returned from the war. At the age of four, Hindley was sent to live with her grandmother to give her parents space with the new baby. She never returned. Her grandmother was very lenient and often let Myra skip school. She was very intelligent and had an above-average IQ.
Growing up she had a deep and husky voice, and many considered her to be masculine. Often she was made fun of for her nose and her very aggressive personality. By the age of 18, she had a job working as a secretary in a Merchandising office. There she met a 23-year-old man by the name of Ian Brady. Hindley was love-struck by Brady from the moment she first laid eyes on him. Over time she became obsessive over him. Brady had a strange obsession with Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Myra took it so far as dying her hair and changing her style to wear short skirts, high-heels, and waistcoats to look more German.
As much as she was in love and obsessed with Brady, she was also terrified of him. He had sick and twisted fantasies that she became wrapped up in. They fantasized about committing bank robberies, but that later turned into fantasizing about committing murder and sex crimes against children.
Their first victim was a 16-year-old girl named Pauline Reade. She was on her way to a disco when she vanished on July 12, 1963. Hindley pretended to lose an article of clothing, such as a glove and asked if Reade could help her find it. She was taken, raped, beaten, and stabbed by Brady. Her body was found over two decades later, still wearing her party dress from that night.
In December 1964, the couple committed their most monstrous crime. The couple found a little girl, 10 years old, at a fair by herself. Her name was Lesley-Anne Downey. They took her to Hindley’s grandmother’s house where she was gagged and tied up. Brady and Hindley recorded her for 13 minutes as she was begging for her mother, being forced to pose for photos undressed. Brady raped and strangled Downey.
David Smith, Hindley’s brother-in-law, heard Brady beating up one of their other victims with an ax and went to the police the next day to report them. On October 7, both Myra Hindley and Ian Brady were arrested. The police found a suitcase with photographs and audio recordings of Downey’s torture. They searched the area of Saddleworth Moor, where they found two of the five bodies.
They became known as the “Moors Murderers” and both were sentenced to life in prison. Myra Hindley was labeled “the most evil woman in Britain.” In 1987 she released a full confession of her involvement in the murders. She died of respiratory failure in the hospital on November 15, 2002, after spending 36 years in prison.
Sources:
https://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/crime-files/ian-brady/crimes
https://allthatsinteresting.com/myra-hindley-moors-murders
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-moors-murderers-begin-their-killing-spree
Photo Sources in Order:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/moors-murders-myra-hindley-accused-13279304
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1001890/Moors-Murders-Pauline-Reade-necklace-Ian-Brady-Myra Hindley
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8925914/
Super cool! I took a class in high school about forensics and it talked about so many serial killers and their background. I really enjoyed it and I really enjoy your blog.
This case is so interesting! I wonder if the motives for these crimes were truly out of an obsessive love or if they had a deeper or other basis? I loved how you mixed media and text to enhance the story-telling.