Brady refused right to die

Brady has spent 34 years in custody

Moors murderer Ian Brady has been refused the right to starve himself to death.

A High Court judge announced on Friday that officials at Ashworth Hospital in Maghull, Merseyside were entitled to force feed Brady, 62, who has been on hunger strike.

Brady was taken to and from court under police escort

The child killer's legal team said he may launch an appeal against the ruling.

Refusing Brady's application for a judicial review, the judge Mr Justice Maurice Kay said the doctors' decision had been "in all respects lawful, rational and fair".

Last week Brady's lawyers argued that Ashworth Hospital had exceeded its powers in force-feeding him after he began refusing food on 30 September.

Knife found

Brady, jailed for life in 1966 for the murder of three children, began his strike claiming he was assaulted while being transferred to a more secure ward at the hospital.

The transfer was sparked when a knife fashioned out of a bucket handle was found taped to the bottom of a sink in Jade Ward. Brady suffered a fractured arm during the move.

Since 29 October he has been receiving liquidised food through a tube inserted down his nose and into his stomach.

Ashworth Hospital says Brady is not restrained during the procedure - which it refers to as re-feeding rather than force feeding.

The judge ruled in favour of Brady's medical officer at the hospital, Dr James Collins.

'Paranoid personality'

He said he was satisfied Brady had started the hunger strike in protest at being moved from one ward to another and that at no time had he told Dr Collins that it was his intention to starve himself to death.

The judge said he was swayed by Dr Collins, who described Brady as psychopathic and prone to narcissism, egocentricity, obsessiveness, a need for control, paranoia, a lack of remorse and a lack of empathy.

He felt the need to do something and get his own back and exercise his control and address the needs of his self confidence and narcissism

Brady's medical officer Dr James Collins

The judge said Brady had employed hunger strikes in the past as a tactic.

Mr Justice Kay pointed out that while Brady did not consent to the re-feeding he did not offer any resistance either.

Dr Collins said Brady had talked in the past of receiving a "massive psychological boost" from previous hunger strikes, which he saw as a "battle of wills" with the authorities.

'I made a rational decision'

He told the hearing that after the transfer from Jade Ward, Brady had "felt the need to do something and get his own back and exercise his control and address the needs of his self confidence and narcissism".

Later Brady issued a statement in which he said: "I have prepared myself for today's decision which means that I am still not allowed to starve myself to death notwithstanding the fact that the eminent Professor of Forensic Psychiatry, Professor Tony Maden, was satisfied that my decision was unimpaired by my mental illness and was a rational decision."

Lesley Ann Downey: Killed by Brady

Brady was taken to and from the court in Liverpool under heavy police escort and was kept out of sight of the public.

Outside court his solicitor Robin Makin said he would be looking at the possibility of appealing to the European Court in Strasbourg.

Brady was convicted, along with his lover Myra Hindley, of murdering 10-year-old Lesley Ann Downey and 17-year-old Edward Evans.

He was also convicted of killing 12-year-old John Kilbride.

In 1987, Brady finally confessed to the murders of Pauline Reade, 16, and Keith Bennett, 12.

He is serving a "whole life" sentence, meaning he will never be released from prison.