Moors murderer Myra Hindley agreed to take a “truth drug” in a bid to find the grave of missing victim Keith Bennett.
Long-lost letters have revealed the evil killer was persuaded by the tragic 12-year-old’s mum Winnie Johnson.
She made the plea after Hindley volunteered to undergo hypnosis to find the spot on Saddleworth Moor where Keith, who vanished in June 1964, was buried – but Margaret Thatcher’s Home Secretaries refused. They believed she was only offering to improve her parole prospects and was likely to lie.
Mrs Johnson argued if Hindley was given pentathol she would be forced to tell the truth if hypnosis did not work.
In 1987, Hindley helped in the search for victims and on June 1, 16-year-old Pauline Reade’s body was discovered.
But neither Hindley nor her brutal lover and fellow killer Ian Brady were able to recall where they buried Keith.
In October and December that year, Hindley twice petitioned the then Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd, pleading to be allowed to undergo hypnosis, but he refused. In July 1992, Mrs Johnson’s solicitors, Clifford Chapman and Co, in a letter to Kenneth Clarke suggested using so-called “truth drug” pentathol.
They added they had been in contact with Hindley’s solicitors who had agreed in principle.
Sheffield University’s Prof Tom Clark, who found the letters, said: “But by January 1993, she was ‘very adamant’ she would not subject herself to the truth drug because ‘she had been warned by Greater Manchester Police it could be harmful’. She neglected to inform Winnie Johnson and the Home Office chose not to break her confidence.”
Mrs Johnson died in 2012, 10 years after Hindley. Her son’s body has not been found.
