Iain Hepburn

MANCHESTER radio station Key 103 has been censured and branded 'sensationalist' by the radio watchdog after running a sweepstake competition inviting listeners to predict when Myra Hindley would die.

The station asked listeners to call in with the time they thought the Moors Murderer would 'meet her maker' with a '500 prize for the caller who got closest, after a news bulletin on November 15th last year reported that she had been given the last rites.

However, the Radio Authority today(Friday) branded the stunt as being in 'bad taste' and said that the station should have handled reports of Hindley's condition with more responsibility and sensationalism.

Three listeners complained about the stunt, and today the ruling body upheld their complaints on the grounds of taste, decency and causing offence to the audience.

Key 103 defended the sweepstake, saying: 'We believe that we captured something of the mood of the audience, providing our listeners with the opportunity to express their often very impassioned views about Miss Hindley, her partner Ian Brady and the crimes they committed.'

However, the authority said in its ruling that, having listened to the recording of the show in question, and of the competition ' which had provoked complaints on-air from listeners ' it was upholding the objections.

'While we acknowledged the level of emotion that Myra Hindley engendered in local people and that many people would not mourn for her, we nevertheless thought that the item was in bad taste,' the authority said.

'We believed that the depth of feeling within the area against her was a perfectly legitimate topic for the station to explore, but that it could have been handled more responsibly and sensitively to reflect the revulsion in a less sensationalist manner.'

Should Key 103 have been punished further? Or do you think their sweepstake wasn't in bad taste? Have your say.

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