The brother of Moors murder victim Keith Bennett has praised the continuing efforts of the police to find his sibling's remains but expressed frustration that information from an amateur sleuth who sparked the latest dig has so far failed to find him.
The latest excavation began on Friday after author Edward Russell showed police pictures of what was described as part of a jaw bone, after working with a team of experts to try to find Keith's remains.
Police have dug 3ft down in the immediate area identified by Mr Russell and then several metres beyond that. As the search entered its fifth day, Keith's brother Alan Bennett publicly thanked the police but said he was 'confused, to say the least' that last week's new information has not yet yielded a positive result.
READ MORE: Man charged with rape and false imprisonment after alleged attack on woman
The search was continuing today and could continue for several more days this week. Keith, 12, was one of five victims of killers Myra Hindley and Ian Brady. He vanished on June 16th 1964. His is the only body not to have been found. The other victims were Pauline Reade, 16, John Kilbride, 12, Lesley Ann Downey, 10, and Edward Evans, 17.
On his Facebook page, Alan Bennett posted: "I would like to publicly thank the Cold Case Team and the Forensic Team for all they are doing on the moor and for keeping me informed."
Earlier he suggested Mr Russell could return to the moors to help police find the precise location of his find.
He wrote: "Instead of doing the rounds of media outlets, maybe that bloke should return to the moor and be a lot more accurate about the facts and location of his find. There's a lot more I would like to say and ask but out of respect and gratitude for the Cold Case Team and the Forensic Team I'll keep quiet for now."
He added: "Just to be clear about this. I'm not saying there is nothing there, what I will say is that I, and many others are confused, to say the very least. I still believe Keith is not in that location and I still believe there were no other victims. However, nobody can rule anything else out. I just cannot understand why nothing has been found."
Mr Bennett referenced two previous finds, one by his own team which uncovered some material and a stud fastener and alerted police. It turned out to be camping equipment, he said. He cited another find which turned out to be sheep bones.
He wrote: "I am just getting frustrated, annoyed, confused and feeling a lot more emotions because there is more to this than meets the eye and I cannot understand why that bloke appears not to have been exact in his information to the police about the location.
"Surely, he cannot have forgotten exactly where it is after his claims about his years of investigations. Just a few of the hundreds of thoughts running through my mind."
Read more of today's top stories here
READ NEXT:
- Husband, 35, who "on the face of it, has normal existence", stalked seven women including schoolgirls from his car in terrifying 90 minute rampage
- Cyclist dad-of-two left with horrific injuries in 'hit-and-run' crash captured on CCTV
- Greater Manchester hour-by-hour weather forecast for today
- Greggs is giving away FREE hot drinks and bakes worth £4 for certain customers
- University of Salford removes student nurses from NHS mental health unit under investigation by police
