What happened to Keith Bennett?
KEITH BENNETT was murdered by the Moors Murderers in the early 1960s and his body is yet to be found.
However, police have begun searching for Bennett's potential remains after a skull was found in Saddleworth Moor.
What happened to Keith Bennett?
Keith Bennett, 12, was one of the five victims tortured and killed by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley in the 1960s Moors Murders.
Keith Bennett was on his way to his grandmother’s house on June 16, 1964, when he was snatched away by the couple.
Hindley lured the 12-year-old boy into her van.
She drove to a layby on the Moor and Brady took the boy while Hindley kept watch.
Brady reappeared 30 minutes later having sexually assaulted and strangled Keith.
Police searched Saddleworth Moor in 1986 after Hindley and Brady confessed to his murder, however they never found his body.
Who were Moors Murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley?
Brady and Hindley have been dubbed as "the evilest duo in Britain" due to their string of murders in the 1960s.
Between 1963 and 1965, the pair tortured and murdered five children between the ages of 10 and 17.
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The couple also sexually assaulted at least four of the victims before killing them.
Brady and Hindley were convicted of killing John Kilbride, 12, Lesley Ann Downey, 10, and 17-year-old Edward Evans.
While locked up, Brady later admitted to the murders of Bennett and 16-year-old Pauline Reade.
The pair were known as the Moors Murderers as they killed their victims in the Saddlemoor area of Manchester.
Hindley, then 23, was described by the press as ";the most evil woman in Britain".
She made several appeals against her life sentence, saying that she was a reformed woman, however she was never released and died in prison in 2002 at the age of 60.
By contrast, Brady, who was diagnosed as a psychopath in 1985, made it clear that he did not want to leave prison.
He died of cancer in 2017 at the age of 79.
Why didn't Ian Brady reveal where Keith Bennett is buried?
Brady and Hindley murdered five children and four of their bodies were located.
Keith Bennett was the only victim whose body was not found and therefore, the police were desperate to locate him.
On the 50th anniversary of his life sentence, Brady was urged to finally name the spot where he killed and buried Keith but he did not reveal it.
The serial killer remained silent about the 12-year-old’s whereabouts since he was jailed and was branded “wicked beyond belief” by a judge on May 6, 1966.
The whereabouts of Bennett's body was of keen interest to the police, who made many attempts to try and locate him.
It emerged even when Brady was on his deathbed, the police made one last attempt to get him to reveal where he buried Bennett, though the depraved murderer refused to say.
Keith’s mum, Winnie Johnson, died from cancer in 2012 having never learned the truth.
Did Ian Brady write a letter to Keith Bennett's mum?
Brady is believed to have written a letter to Keith's mum which could the key to discovering where he buried the lad.
The Moors Murderer's mental health advocate Jackie Powell claims she received the letter in a sealed envelope.
She told a Channel 4 documentary it should only be passed on to Winnie in the event of his death.
Police investigating the claims arrested Ms Powell on suspicion of preventing the lawful burial of a body.
Officers carried out a 10-hour search of her home near Llanelli, South Wales, and seized piles of documents.
Ms Powell was later released and no further action was taken.
It is believed she told cops she had since returned the letter to Brady.
In December 2012 police discovered an envelope with the words "to be opened in the event of my death" written on the front – however, there was no letter inside.
Speaking in February 2013, Martin Bottomley, of Greater Manchester Police, said: "As soon as we were made aware of the existence of this alleged letter, we made exhaustive attempts to obtain it to establish whether or not its contents would assist us in finding Keith's body.
"That resulted in the warrants we carried out in the South Wales area and at Ashworth Hospital in August 2012.
"However, despite seizing numerous documents and a search of Brady's cell, no such letter has been recovered.
"That in itself does not prove or disprove the letter's existence - it might have been destroyed, it might be hidden elsewhere, it may be in someone else's possession, or it may simply never have existed in the first place and this has been yet more mind games by Brady."