Police are digging up grasslands in a search for Moors murder victim Keith Bennett after a skull was discovered. The young boy was abducted 58 years ago by notorious killers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, but his remains have never been found.
Now, investigators are preparing to excavate an area of Saddleworth Moor after a skull - believed to be of a, roughly, 12-year-old child - was uncovered. Last night, forensic anthropologists working with Greater Manchester Police took potential samples of body tissue found in the area to be examined, the Mirror reports.
It is hoped the breakthrough will help detectives finally resolve the infamous case after six decades. Keith Bennett is the only Moors murders victim who has never been found after Glasgow -born Brady and his partner refused to reveal the location of his body.
Forensic archaeologist Dawn Keen, who specialises in the study of human remains, remotely supervised the "grave cut", reports the Daily Mail. She said yesterday: "I do believe there are human remains there. They [police] have got to look.
"From the photographs, I saw the teeth, I could see the canines, I could see the incisors, I could see the first molar. It is the left side of an upper jaw. There is no way that it is an animal."
Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are two of the most notorious killers in British criminal history. Few have attracted such notoriety or public loathing as the Moors murderers, so-named after they kidnapped and murdered five children over 18 months, between July 1963 and October 1965.
The pair were jailed for life in 1966 for murdering five children - Pauline Reade, 16, John Kilbride, 12, Keith Bennett, 12, Lesley Ann Downey, 10, and Edward Evans, 17, all from the Manchester area. Brady and Hindley, who were both in their 20s, lured the youngsters to their deaths, sexually torturing their victims before burying them on Saddleworth Moor in the Pennines above Manchester.
Pauline disappeared on her way to a disco on July 12 1963 and John was snatched in November the same year. Keith was snatched on June 16 1964 after he left home to visit his grandmother; Lesley Ann was lured away from a funfair on Boxing Day 1964; and Edward was killed in October 1965.
The couple later took snapshots of themselves standing over the graves. The bodies of John, Lesley Ann and Edward were discovered at the time of the latest killing, in October 1965.
Edward, who was battered to death with an axe, was found in an upstairs room at Brady and Handle's Manchester home. Lesley Ann's body was discovered on Saddleworth Moor on October 16 after a tip-off to the police by a 12-year-old neighbour who had been there with the couple.
Photos of the moor found at the house also led to the discovery of John Kilbride there later that month. Brady was jailed for life at Chester Assizes in 1966 for the murders of John, Lesley Ann and Edward.
Hindley was convicted of killing Lesley Ann and Edward and shielding Brady after John's murder, and jailed for life. In 1987 the pair finally admitted killing Keith and Pauline.
Pauline body was found on the moor later that year, but Keith's body has never been found, a source of constant torment to his mother Winnie Johnson.
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