Police have expanded the search for Moorish victim Keith Bennett after forensic teams admitted they found “no visible evidence” of human remains nearly 60 years after the boy’s murder.
Archaeologists ended up excavating the primary scene in the renewed search for 12-year-old Keith after investigating the reported discovery of a human skull.
Greater Manchester Police said on Tuesday that ‘no bones, fabric or objects of interest’ were found in the area – which was recently brought to the attention of police by a member of the public who had been investigating the schoolboy’s murder. .
The search is now continuing in the wider area of Saddleworth Moor in the Peak District. Soil samples were taken for analysis.
Keith was murdered in 1964 by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, but his body was never found.
Last month, The Daily Mail reported that author Russell Edwards believed he had found the younger’s makeshift grave on Saddleworth Moor, and archaeologists began searching the area on September 30.
Police have expanded the search for Moor’s murder victim Keith Bennett, 12, (pictured) after forensic teams admitted to finding ‘no visible evidence’ of human remains nearly 60 years after the boy’s murder
The search for Keith now continues in the wider area of Saddleworth Moor in the Peak District. Pictured: Police are searching for remains in Saddleworth Moor near Oldham, Greater Manchester on September 30
Police looking for body of Moors Murder victim Keith Bennett on Saddleworth Moor
Police said Tuesday: a ‘close search of the original area’ in Greater Manchester was completed during the multi-day search and officers have moved to the surrounding grounds to ensure nothing was missed.
“Forensic archaeologists and forensic anthropologists have now completed a methodical archaeological dig and survey of the area previously dug and refilled by the public,” Chief Inspector Cheryl Hughes said.
‘No bones, substances or interesting objects have been extracted from the ground.
“These accredited and certified forensic experts are now proceeding with a methodical and controlled excavation of the area immediately around the original site to provide a higher degree of certainty about the presence or absence of items of interest.
‘More soil samples have been taken for analysis, but at the moment there is no visible evidence of the presence of human remains.
“The scene investigation is underway.”
She added: “We have seen the outpouring of support since this news came out so know what our communities feel about this matter, but we ask the public not to travel to the area and can assure them that we will receive timely and appropriate will provide updates. .’
Detective Hughes said GMP will keep Keith’s family informed at every stage of the search.
Keith was last seen by his mother in the early evening of 16 June 1964 after he left the house in Eston Street, Longsight, Manchester, on his way to his grandmother’s house nearby.
Keith was murdered in 1964 by Ian Brady (left) and Myra Hindley (right). Brady and Hindley killed a total of five people. Three were later found buried on Saddleworth Moor. Keith’s body was never found
The photo shows officers searching for Keith’s remains on Saddleworth Moor, in the north west of England, on Monday
Forensic teams examine the earth in Saddleworth Moor on Monday as police confirmed no human remains have yet been found
Greater Manchester Police officers continue their search on Saddleworth Moor on Monday
Brady and Hindley killed a total of five people. Three were later found buried on Saddleworth Moor.
The victims were: Pauline Reade, 16, who disappeared on her way to a disco on July 12, 1963; John Kilbride, 12, who was abducted in November of the same year; Lesley Ann Downey, 10, who was lured away from a funfair on Boxing Day 1964; and Edward Evans, 17, who was murdered in October 1965.
Brady and Hindley were caught after the murder of Edward Evans and the bodies of Lesley and John were found in the moor.
They were taken to Saddleworth Moor to help police find the remains of the other victims, but only Pauline’s body was recovered. Brady claimed he couldn’t remember where he buried Keith.
In 2009, police said a secret search of the moor, using a wealth of scientific experts, also failed to find a trace of the boy.
Hindley died in prison in 2002 at the age of 60, and Brady died in a high-security hospital in 2017 at the age of 79.
Following Brady’s death, Greater Manchester Police officer Martin Bottomley said: “It is especially saddened by Keith Bennett’s family that his killers have not revealed the location of Keith’s burial site to police.
“Hardly a week goes by that we don’t receive any information that would lead us to Keith, but in the end only two people knew where Keith is.
Greater Manchester Police will never close this case. Brady’s death doesn’t change that. We will act on credible and useful information that will lead us to him.”
In 2012 – 48 years after Keith’s death – his mother, Winnie Johnson, died at age 78 without fulfilling her wish to give him a Christian funeral.
Haunted: Keith’s mother Winnie, who died in 2012 without ever knowing where her son was buried. Pictured with her son’s famous ‘missing’ poster
A crime scene detective at the Oct. 2 location searches for the remains of murder victim Keith Bennett
Before they died, Brady and Hindley were taken to Saddleworth Moor to help the police find the remains of their victims. Brady claimed he couldn’t remember where he buried Keith. Pictured: Investigating search teams on October 2
The family of Moors murder victim Keith Bennett said they hoped his body would finally be found Photo: Brother Alan Bennett
The Nazi-obsessed Brady, who was officially diagnosed as a psychopath in 1985, taunted Keith’s brother Alan Bennettnow 66, in a sickening letter in 1991.
Brady insisted that he leave “special instructions” on how to find the child’s remains in his will, but the clues never materialized.
During the multi-day search, Alan said on social media that “hundreds of thoughts ran through my head.”
However, expressing his skepticism, he wrote on Facebook: “Except this is the location for Keith and all previous graves have been shallow, why haven’t anything been discovered yet if the police have been brought to the location?”
“I can’t escape the feeling that we’ve been here before.”
Alan wrote: ‘I just get frustrated, annoyed, confused and feel a lot more emotions because there’s more going on than meets the eye and I can’t understand why that guy doesn’t seem to have been exact in his information to the police about the place.
“I’m sure he couldn’t have forgotten exactly where it is after his claims about his years of research. Just a few of the hundreds of thoughts running through my head.
‘For clarity. I’m not saying there’s nothing, what I’m saying is that I, and many others, are confused to say the least.
He added: “I’m not saying there’s nothing, what I’m saying is that I, and many others, are confused to say the least.”
Alan said he believed Keith’s remains would not be found at the site being excavated, but “no one can rule out anything else.”