Moors murders: Police end search of site for victim Keith Bennett after no human remains found
Police have ended a search for Moors murders victim Keith Bennett on Saddleworth Moor after finding no human remains.
An author claimed to have found evidence of the possible burial site of the 12-year-old boy who went missing in 1964 and whose body has never been found.
Keith was one of five victims of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, with three of them later found buried on the moor.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) began searching the area on 29 September but on Friday said there was “no evidence of the presence of human remains”.
Detective Chief Inspector Cheryl Hughes said: “The investigation into Keith’s disappearance and murder has remained open since 1964 and it will not be closed until we have found the answers his family have deserved for so many years.
“The excavation and examination at the site is complete and, to reiterate, we have found no evidence that this is the burial location of Keith Bennett.”
Author Russell Edwards told the Daily Mail he believed he had located Keith’s makeshift grave following “extensive soil analysis” which indicated the presence of human remains.
Mr Edwards is said to have commenced his own dig – close to where the other Moors murders victims were found – and uncovered a skull with teeth, which independent experts are reported to have concluded is human.
DCI Hughes said officers “met with the member of the public who later provided us with samples and copies of the photographs he had taken”.
Moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley
“He also took officers to the location from which he had obtained these and provided grid references,” she added.
The senior investigating officer said experts had completed an examination of the site, adding: “The items given to us by the member of the public have been examined by a forensic scientist and though this hasn’t yet indicated the presence of human remains – more analysis is required.”
GMP previously said it was provided with a photo showing what experts working with Mr Edwards had interpreted as a human jaw bone.
But DCI Hughes said on Friday: “At this stage, the indications are that it would be considerably smaller than a juvenile jaw and it cannot be ruled out that it is plant-based.”
Keith Bennett’s brother Alan had previously expressed doubt that the author’s findings would turn out to be the remains of his sibling.
Writing on Facebook after the search of the site began, he said he “cannot escape the feeling that we have been here before”.
Brady and his accomplice Hindley sexually assaulted, tortured and murdered children over two years in the 1960s.
While the bodies of four of their victims were discovered, Keith’s remains have never been found.
Keith was last seen by his mother in the early evening of 16 June 1964 after leaving his home in Longsight, Manchester, on his way to his grandmother’s house nearby.
Brady told Hindley he sexually assaulted and strangled the boy.
Despite a plea to Brady from Keith’s mother, Winnie Johnson, to reveal the details of where her son’s body was, holding back the information was believed to be the killer maintaining a last element of control.
Mrs Johnson died in 2012 without fulfilling her wish to give him a proper Christian burial.
Brady confessed to Keith’s murder but claimed he could not remember where he was buried.
Brady and Hindley’s other victims were 16-year-old Pauline Reade who disappeared on her way to a disco in July 1963; 12-year-old John Kilbride who was snatched in November the same year; Lesley Ann Downey, aged 10, who was lured away from a funfair on Boxing Day 1964; and 17-year-old Edward Evans who was axed to death in October 1965.
The killers were caught after the Evans murder and Lesley and John’s bodies were recovered from the moors.
Hindley died in jail in 2002 at the age of 60, while Brady died in a high-security hospital in 2017 aged 79.
A man has been convicted of drugging and raping 10 women in London and China between 2019 and 2023.
Chinese PhD student Zhenhao Zou, 28, filmed nine of the attacks as “souvenirs”, and kept a trophy box of women’s belongings, jurors in his trial were told.
Warning: This article contains details of sexual offences
He was accused in court of drugging and raping three women in London and seven in China between 2019 and 2023.
Jurors at Inner London Crown Court found him guilty of 11 charges of rape against 10 women, including two who have been identified and another eight who have yet to be traced.
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Moment police arrest student guilty of rape
The mechanical engineering student was also convicted of three counts of voyeurism, 10 of possession of an extreme pornographic image, one of false imprisonment and three of possession of a controlled drug with intent to commit a sexual offence, namely butanediol.
He was cleared of two further counts of possession of an extreme pornographic image and one of possession of MDMA with intent to commit a sexual offence.
The trial heard Zou kept a ‘lost property box’ full of women’s belongings. Pic: Met Police
The jury has not reached verdicts on four counts of possession of drugs with intent to commit a sexual offence.
Zou – who first moved to Belfast in 2017 to study mechanical engineering at Queen’s University before moving to London in 2019 – showed no visible reaction as the verdicts were read out in court.
Catherine Farrelly KC, prosecuting, told jurors during the trial that Zou “presents as a smart and charming young man” but is “also a persistent sexual predator; a voyeur and a rapist”.
A discreet camera belonging to Zou. Pic: Met Police
Zou, who also used the name Pakho online, befriended fellow Chinese students on WeChat and dating apps, before inviting them for drinks and drugging them at his flats in London or an unknown location in China, the court heard.
The jury heard how he would secretly film his attacks using a mobile device and hidden cameras, and was shown evidence found on SD cards at his accommodation of him raping unconscious women in London and in China.
Senior Crown Prosecution Service prosecutor Saira Pike thanked the “incredibly strong and brave” women who came forward to report his “heinous” crimes.
“Zou is a serial rapist and a danger to women,” she said.
“In some instances, we have not been able to identify Zou’s victims. Without knowing who these women are, we have not been able to support them through a deeply distressing period of time.
“We have always been determined to seek justice for both the unidentified and identified victims in this case.”
A woman has pleaded guilty to gross negligence manslaughter over the deaths of four paddleboarders on a river in Pembrokeshire.
Paddleboarding instructor Nerys Lloyd, 39, conducted a stand up paddle tour during extremely hazardous conditions on the River Cleddau in the West Wales town of Haverfordwest in October 2021.
Andrea Powell, 41, Morgan Rogers, 24 and Nicola Wheatley, 40 – and Lloyd’s fellow instructor Paul O’Dwyer, 42 – died after getting into difficulty.
At the time of the tragedy there had been heavy flooding and severe weather warnings were in place.
Lloyd, 39, who was the owner and sole director of Salty Dog Co Ltd, spoke to confirm her name before pleading guilty on Wednesday to all five counts, including an offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
Police were called to the weir in Haverfordwest after reports of paddleboarders in distress.
As the group approached the weir, the three participants were pulled over the top and became trapped.
Mr O’Dwyer initially exited the water, but re-entered the river in an attempt to rescue the others.
Nerys Lloyd (centre, on crutches) leaving Swansea Crown Court. Pic: PA
Death has ‘left a void’
Emergency services attended and Mr O’Dwyer, from Port Talbot, Ms Rogers, from Merthyr Tydfil, and Ms Wheatley, from Swansea, were declared dead at the scene.
Ms Powell, from Bridgend, was taken to hospital but died six days later.
The four victims died of drowning/immersion, according to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
After the incident, Ms Wheatley’s family paid tribute to her and said her death had “left a void in [their] lives that will never be filled”.
Ms Rogers’s family said she was the “best that she could be” and would be “sadly missed”.
The family of Mr O’Dwyer described him as “a devoted husband, father, son and brother”, whose “passion for the water” began at an early age.
Ms Powell was someone who “loved life”, her family said, as they thanked those who had shown them support.
Pic: OpenStreetMap
‘Avoidable tragedy’
Lisa Rose, specialist prosecutor with the CPS’s special crime division, said it was an “avoidable tragedy”.
“Despite going to check the state of the river before departing on the tour, Nerys Lloyd failed to inspect the weir,” she said.
Ms Rose said there was “no safety briefing or formal risk assessments” and that Lloyd “was not qualified to take paddleboarders out in such hazardous conditions”.
“Final decisions to continue with the event were Lloyd’s decision, and as a result she held complete and entire responsibility,” Ms Rose added.
Sentencing to take place in April
“I hope these convictions provide some sense of justice for those affected and our thoughts remain with the families and friends of the victims at this time.”
Read more from Sky News:
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Lloyd, of Aberavon, was charged with the offences on 4 October last year.
She was granted unconditional bail by Judge Mrs Justice Stacey until her sentencing hearing on 15 April.
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