Winnie Johnson: A devoted mum who went to her grave without knowing the truth of her son's murder
manchestereveningnews.co.ukWinnie Johnson never gave up searching for her son. Tragically she went to her grave without ever discovering the truth. Keith Bennett was just 12-years-old when Winnie waved him goodbye as he walked across Stockport Road in Longsight towards his gran's house on June 16, 1964. Read more: Police digging on the Moors for murder victim Keith Bennett as skull found He never made it.
Keith was snatched from the street by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. They took him to Saddleworth Moor where he was sexually abused and murdered by Brady in one of the bleakest chapters of British criminal history - the moors murders of five innocent children.
In 1966 Brady and Hindley were found guilty of torturing and killing John Kilbride, 12, Lesley Ann Downey, 10, and Edward Evans, 17.
Almost 20 years later Brady admitted in an interview with a journalist that he had also killed Keith and Pauline Reade, 16. Prompted by the confession, Johnson wrote to Hindley, asking for her help in finding Keith's burial place. "I am a simple woman, I work in the kitchens of Christie's Hospital," she wrote. "It has taken me five weeks labour to write this letter because it is so important to me that it is understood by you for what it is, a plea for help.
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