Notorious Manchester killer Ian Brady may be suffering from the early stages of dementia as his behaviour has become increasingly bizarre according to a mental health worker.
Jackie Powell, the Moors murderer’s mental health advocate, has admitted that medical experts believe he is seriously ill and that he may be unable to remember where he buried one of his victims.
Brady was jailed for life in 1966 along with Myra Hindley for the torture and murder of five children in Manchester.
He has refused to give away the location of Keith Bennett’s remains and his family have campaigned for years for Brady to reveal where he buried the 12-year-old.
Ms Powell told the Daily Mirror: “Brady has to be in control and getting dementia is his worst nightmare.
“No one who meets him could ever deny that he had a very sharp mind. He is highly intelligent and insists on dealing with things on his own terms. He never wants to expose his feelings so he is terrified of losing his self-control.
“Everything he does has always been very calculated and he could not imagine anything worse than his own mind slipping away from him. He’d never admit it, but I believe he is frightened about what is happening to him.”
Brady has been held at Ashworth high-security psychiatric hospital since 1985 and was denied a transfer to a normal prison last year after a tribunal declared him to still be insane.
Ms Powell added that Brady would not accept that there was anything wrong and refused to undergo tests that could confirm whether he has Alzheimer’s disease.
Sketch courtesy of Julia Quenzler, with thanks.
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