No human remains found yet on Saddleworth Moors as Keith Bennett search continues

Could this be the last search for Keith Bennett? Emma Sweeney reports the latest on the decades-long case.

Greater Manchester Police say the search for Moors Murders victim Keith Bennett will continue for the foreseeable future despite no human remains yet being identified.

In an update on Sunday 3 October, senior investigating officer Cheryl Hughes said: "Following information received which indicated that potential human remains had been found on the Moors, specialist officers from GMP have today again resumed excavation of a site identified to the force.

"We have not found any identifiable human remains but work to excavate the site is continuing and will do so for the foreseeable time."

12-year-old Keith Bennett was snatched by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley 58 years ago in south Manchester in June 1964, but his remains have never been found.

Police say they were contacted by an author researching Keith's murder who believes he had discovered human remains, at around 11.25am on 29 September.

He took officers to the site on the Moors and specialists have now begun "initial exploration activity".

But in a statement on Saturday 1 October, Greater Manchester Police said photographs of the site which showed what had been interpreted as a human jaw bone had not led to physical evidence being examined.

Senior Investigating Officer Cheryl Hughes said: “Following information received which indicated that potential human remains had been found on the Moors, specialist officers have today (1 October 2022) resumed excavation of a site identified to us.

“This information included photographs of the site and show what experts working with the informant have interpreted as a human jaw bone. No physical evidence of a jaw bone or skull has been examined.

“However, based on the photographs and information provided, and in line with GMP’s usual practice to follow-up any suggestion of human burial, we began our search of the site of interest.

“We have not found any identifiable human remains but our work to excavate the site is continuing. 

“Conditions are difficult and it may take us some time to fully complete the excavation but we are committed to ensuring this is undertaken in the most thorough way possible.”

Brady ignored repeated requests from Keith's late mother, Winnie Johnson, over several decades to identify the location of his makeshift grave so she could give her son a proper Christian burial.

She died in 2012, and Keith's brother Alan Bennett - who police are keeping updated with any developments - has continued the hunt for his body.

Five children were killed by Brady and Hindley between 1963 and 1965.

The victims, Pauline Reade, 16, John Kilbride, 12, Keith Bennett, 12, Lesley Ann Downey, 10, and Edward Evans, 17, were buried on Saddleworth Moor.

The bodies of Lesley Ann and John were discovered in 1965, in graves dug on Saddleworth Moor, Pauline's body was later discovered there in 1987.

In 1965 Brady and Hindley were charged with the murders of Kilbride, Downey and Evans, and, in 1966, they received life sentences under a whole life tariff.

The investigation was reopened in 1985 after Brady was reported as having confessed to the murders of Reade and Bennett.

After confessing to these additional murders, Brady and Hindley were taken separately to Saddleworth Moor to assist in the search for the graves.

Brady claimed he could not remember where he had buried Keith.

In 2009, police said a covert search operation on the moor, which used a wealth of scientific experts, had also failed to discover any trace of the boy.

Hindley died in 2002 in prison. Brady went on hunger strike in 1999 and, after several failed attempts to be moved to a prison, he died in Ashworth Hospital in May 2017, aged 79.