Brady wins right to public hearing

Brady murdered five children with accomplice Myra Hindley

Moors murderer Ian Brady has won his battle to have a mental health tribunal held in public, it has been confirmed.

The child-killer will have the right to give evidence at the hearing, which is expected to take place by the end of the year.

Brady, 65, has been force-fed by staff at the secure Ashworth Hospital in Merseyside since going on hunger strike in September 1999.

In February 2000 a High Court judge ruled that Brady was insane and incapable of deciding to end his life.

A mental health tribunal panel sat on 1 September to decide if the hearing could take place in public.

Tribunal right

Brady wants the mental health tribunal to move him to an ordinary prison, where the authorities would be powerless to prevent him deliberately starving to death.

A spokeswoman for Ashworth Hospital said on Wednesday Glasgow-born Brady's application for a public hearing was successful.

She said: "Every detained patient has the right to a mental health tribunal every year.

"If they wish to have it in public, then they can request that.

"Mr Brady requested a public hearing and that is what will happen."

The date or venue for the hearing has not yet been fixed.

At their trial, Brady and Myra Hindley were convicted of the murders of Lesley Ann Downey, 10, and Edward Evans, 17. Brady was also found guilty of murdering John Kilbride, 12.

He and Hindley was sentenced to life in 1966. Hindley died in prison last year.