Myra Hindley is expected to remain in hospital over the weekend after having four hours of treatment on a potentially fatal brain condition.

Hindley, 57, was said to be comfortable after being treated by three specialists at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge.

She is suffering from a cerebral aneurism, caused by an artery swelling up at the base of the brain.

Sudden ruptures of the artery can lead to fatal blood loss or severe brain damage.

The child killer was driven from Highpoint Prison near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, where she is serving a life sentence, to Addenbrooke's on Thursday night.

It is the third time in recent weeks that she has been admitted to hospital.

Hindley was twice been taken to the West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds after collapsing in her cell a few days after Christmas.

Keith Day, Addenbrooke's administrative director, said: "The patient has now completed her treatment, which has been successful so far.

"The patient will remain in hospital under close observation and her condition can best be described as comfortable."

Mr Day said Hindley was being treated in accordance with her "clinical priority" and stressed that her presence was not affecting the normal running of the hospital.

She is being guarded by warders from Highpoint and is segregated from other patients.

The killer, who has spent 33 years in prison, has been dogged by ill health in recent years.

She suffers from angina, osteoporosis, high blood pressure and has been troubled by a fractured thigh which has refused to heal properly.

Her problems have been exacerbated by her heavy smoking - she is understood to smoke 40 cigarettes a day.

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.