The mum of Moors Murder victim Keith Bennett has revealed she may have just months to find out where her son is buried – after being diagnosed with cancer.
Winnie Johnson, 77, from Longsight, is about to start a course of radiotherapy after being diagnosed with womb cancer.
Keith was lured into a car by Ian Brady’s lover Myra Hindley while walking to his grandmother’s house in Longsight four days after his 12th birthday in June 1964.
Now Winnie has issued what could be a final appeal – recorded on a DVD – to her son’s killer to give up his evil secret.
She said: "If Brady can help me, if he has one shred of compassion, then all I can ask is, ‘please let me know’.
"He knows where Keith is but I think he enjoys having that last bit of power and if I find Keith he’ll have nothing left.
"I want to let him know this is the last straw for me and if he’d tell me about Keith I would be grateful. He might even feel sorry for me, though I doubt it."
Brady and Hindley were jailed for life in 1966 for murdering three other children, before Brady confessed to the murder of Keith and 16-year-old Pauline Reade in 1985.
Brady, who remains in Merseyside’s high-security Ashworth Hospital, led cops to Pauline’s body in 1988 – but Keith’s has never been found.
Winnie said: "At the end of the day my Keith is still up there on those moors and only one person knows where he is buried.
"This might be my last chance to find my son and give him a proper burial. I want to give Keith a proper funeral before something happens.
"The most important thing is to find Keith before the cancer beats me."
In 2009 a trust was set up to raise funds for a private scientific search for his body, but despite the help of volunteers from a rescue team in Wales an extensive search last year proved unsuccessful. Friends of Winnie are planning a fresh search later this year.
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DOES SHE REALLY THINK BRADY KNOWS AFTER ALL THESE YEARS
Awww Winnie, my heart goes out to you, you are a brave and strong woman, I'm sure you can fight this.
i hope and pray that Brady finds it somewhere in his heart (i'm sure he has got one!) to finally let go of his secret and give you your life long wish to have Keith back.
one very brave lady
To the monkey and ninco show some empathy you ignorant fools this poor woman has nothing else to cling to her only hope is that the devil that is brady puts an end to her suffering.
Nice words from SAF Good on you.
Good luck Winnie and god bless after what you have been through hope you beat this and put Keith to rest...... on another note why cant a memorial to Keith be built on saddleworth moor so Winnie and her family and the people of Manchester have somewhere to visit and show respect to the young lad and make all the moor Keiths final resting place.
Unfortunately, even if Brady could remember the spot, and I think he does as he probably derives satisfaction from remembering his deeds, the nature of the moors means that the landscape has changed. As other posters here show, if Brady was going to to the decent thing, he would have done it by now. He won't, because being a sadist, he gets pleasure from Mrs. Johnson's distress.
I have the utmost admiration for the way Mrs. Johnson has conducted herself all these years, for the love she has shown her son, and I sincerely hope I'm wrong & that Brady will give her the comfort & peace of mind she deserves. Even an indication of the area would give the search teams a starting point.
Poor Winnie. Of all the devoted mothers in the world has there been another more devoted to the memory of her son? And for all that love to be in the hands of a monster like Brady. Life is just too cruel sometimes.
I don't think it's heartless to wish that this poor woman could find some peace in her remaining months. She is not going to find that peace by relying on Brady - that much is obvious as I believe he lost his mind a long time ago. I honestly think, with her best welfare at heart, that she should spend what time she has left remembering the happiness she shared with her son, rather than continue to allow Brady (and formerly Hindley) to control her life and provide the focal point in it. She must take that power away from them. It would give her more happiness to accept the inevitable and honour her son's memory, than to continue to torture herself searching for an answer that she will never find.
If she doesn't know where her son is buried, how have they diagnosed him with cancer?
It's now nearly 60 years since the body was buried and unfortunately because the peat bogs move, quite a lot in that time, there's no saying that even if she knew the exact spot where he was buried, he would be easily found. The there's the depth of the peat bogs. It's just so difficult to locate a body. People might remember Lindow man who had been buried in the peat for thousands of years, eventually the bog gave him up - in a well preserved condition. Unfortunately this will be far to late for his mother to give him a proper burial.
"It was granted me to carry away from my prison years on my bent back, which nearly broke beneath its load, this essential experience: how a human being becomes evil and how good. In the intoxication of youthful successes I had felt myself to be infallible, and I was therefore cruel. In the surfeit of power I was a murderer and an oppressor. In my most evil moments I was convinced that I was doing good, and I was well supplied with systematic arguments. And it was only when I lay there on rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself the stirrings of good. Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either—but right through every human heart—and through all human hearts...
...
And that is why I turn back to the years of my imprisonment and say, sometimes to the astonishment of those about me: “Bless you, prison!” - The Gulag Archipelago
My Easter Monday prayer will be for Brady to have a change of heart.
God Bless you, Winnie x
i find it hard to belive that some people say that winnie should "let it rest or give up" i have never met winnie but i know this until this poor lady has no more life in her body she wont give up she cant give up and to those who say she should i ask you this if it was your child up there would you "give up" no .i only hope and pray that with or without bradys help keiths body is found in time this lady has been knocked down many times and still doesnt give in for this i applaud her she is an inspiration to every one who faces lifes knocks no matter how bad life for all of us gets we should all spare a thought and prayer for this truely brave lady good luck winnie may god bless you and give your heart what it wants keiths body found and layed to rest properly
give brady a truth drug and FORCIBLY make him tell the authorities where Keiths body is, to heck with his human rights, time is running out, he should have willingly gave this information many,many, years ago,give this poor unfortunate,brave mother the right to bury her beloved son. god bless Winnie
Brady will have no intention of telling. Better to pay someone inside willing enough to extract the information. Seem despicable that to have this form of punishment for poor Winnie Johnson to carry on this length. Also shows how these pathetic liberal minded halfwits, who profess to have Myra and Brady best interests at heart. You don't see many politicians hammering at the door to help in resolving the putrid scare on justice. Surprise the lettuce munching sandle wearing LibDem party haven't petitioned their Euroland friends for Brady's freedom on the ground of Humans Rights yet.
Very sad that this lady has lived a life sentence and the two responsible for the hideous crimes were only given a life sentence.
I hope one day she finds the peace she deserves.
my heart go.s out to this very brave woman i hope winnie can find some peace of mind after all these years i will prey for you and your family wish you well god bless xxx
sad but true I think it's going to take a miracle for the poor poor women to find her son's body but miracle's do happen. Best wishes to you Winnie for a speedy recovery and an answer to your prayers.
What sort of a life has this poor woman had? 1st to lose her son at such an early age then since his death had to live with the fact that b*****d Brady and that b***h Hindley have lived it up in luxury prison
Before her tormented life comes to an end Brady should be wired up to an electric source to be switched on until the scum talks, then if he does go onto the moors to show where the boy is then the authorities should swop the boys body for Brady while he is still alive
What a pity the death penalty was ended weeks before their trial I know Winnie still wouldnt have known where her son was buried but there would have been some comfort knowing them twos lives ended too
this awful excuse for a human being gets off on the misery of others even now.he would not tell winnie even if he knew.keith is in your heart.winnie,that is where he will always be.stop pleading with this dreadful man for information that he will never give you.he has hurt you enough/
me and my sisters in 1964 went to the police station and was told to go away, because something happen to one of my sisters, and a few mouths later there pictures came on the tv, and my sister said thats them, thats when l made the conection, beteen the building site, went to my mother and said you have to go to the police, thats when l got a cast iron frying pan on my head, and lost all my menery, but last year its all come back,been speaking to the keith bennett appeal people, and they said they would get back to me, still watiting
l will keep trying , some one as to lission to me
twice in my life l have been to a police station, one when l was 7 half years old with my sisters, in 1964 and was told to go away, and now the second time in 2011, and once again told to go away and let sleeping dogs lie, all l want is for someone out there to lisson to me, and l can take you to the place wear there try to get my little sister in the car, and they was climming over an gate from a field,god bless winnie, l now how she fells when no one lissons at the very begining, so about my spelling,
the first time l saw them was she was stood on an corner next to a blue ish car she had on black trouses black shoues white to cream top, black leathe jacket, white head scaf and black sun glass, he went to my father who was day whatch man and ask him was there any jobs going on the building sit, and theys mor to this story, please contact me,