Moors murderer Myra Hindley is in a stable condition in hospital after undergoing tests on a potentially fatal brain condition.

Hindley, 57, who is serving a life sentence at Highpoint Prison in Suffolk, will undergo further checks and possible treatment at Addenbrookes Hospital, in Cambridge, on Friday.

It is the third time in the past few weeks that Hindley has been admitted to hospital.

She was twice treated at the West Suffolk Hospital at Bury St Edmunds after collapsing in her cell a few days after Christmas.

Doctors say Hindley is suffering from a cerebral aneurysm, caused by an artery swelling up at the base of the brain.

The condition, which can rupture and cause fatal blood loss or severe brain damage, is believed to have been aggravated by Hindley's 40-a-day smoking habit.

Earlier this week it was reported the killer had asked doctors to let her die if the operation went wrong.

She is believed to have come to an agreement with her lawyers to draw up a will setting out her final requests.

A source is quoted as saying this included the demand that her organs were not to be used for transplants.

Hindley and her former lover Ian Brady were given life sentences for the murders of 10-year-old Lesley Ann Downey and 17-year-old Edward Evans in May 1966.

Brady was also convicted of the murder of 12-year-old John Kilbride.

In 1987 the pair also confessed to having killed 16-year-old Pauline Reade and 12-year-old Keith Bennett.

Coincidentally Brady was taken to Fazakerley Hospital in Merseyside earlier this week after collapsing in his room at Ashworth high security hospital.