Moors murderer Myra Hindley is having further hospital tests on a potentially fatal brain swelling, after doctors said she was in a "stable condition"

It is the third time in recent weeks she has been admitted to hospital after collapsing in her cell shortly after Christmas.

Hindley, 57, spent the night under guard at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge. She had three hours of tests on a cerebral aneurysm on Thursday, caused by an artery swelling up at the base of the brain.

Hindley, who is serving a life sentence at Highpoint Prison near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, may have treatment for her condition on Friday.

She was taken to the hospital for pre-arranged consultations with neurosurgeons and underwent a major range of checks including X-rays.

Keith Day, Addenbrooke's administrative director, said senior doctors decided Hindley should remain in hospital after carrying out tests during the evening.

"The prisoner has completed her diagnostic procedure," he said. "This went well and after consultation with the medical team it has now been agreed that she will remain in Addenbrooke's for further consultation and possible treatment."

Mr Day said Hindley was staying in a single room and was segregated from other patients. He said the room had been vacant and no other patients had been displaced or affected by her arrival at the hospital.

He said she was conscious and in no pain and likely to have discussions with three consultant surgeons about possible treatment options on Friday. "The prisoner is in a stable condition," Mr Day added. "It will be a matter of determining what the right course of treatment will be and that will depend on the results of certain tests and the views of consultants.

"It's not possible to say at this stage how long she will remain in hospital."

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.

Brady also ill

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

He has been on hunger strike for almost three months.