Moors mother in '45-year limbo'

Winnie Johnson last saw her son in 1964

Winnie Johnson was a young woman approaching her 30s when her 12-year-old son Keith Bennett set off to walk to his grandmother's house on a June day in Manchester in 1964.

Mrs Johnson walked him part of the way and waved him off. She never saw her boy again.

Keith Bennett was picked up by Moors murderer Myra Hindley who drove him to Saddleworth Moor where he was killed by her accomplice Ian Brady.

"It's a nightmare, it's been a nightmare for the last 45 years how I have carried on - 45 years in limbo, " Mrs Johnson, 75, said.

She said she was "disappointed" the police had called off the searches on the Moor but understood the decision.

I want Keith found before anything happens to me because I want to give him a decent burial Winnie Johnson

"I was disappointed in one way but can understand what they mean because they have worked bloody hard up there and come to a dead end.

"I want Keith found before anything happens to me because I want to give him a decent burial.

Keith was the third of Hindley and Brady's five child victims and is the only one who remains undiscovered.

Mrs Johnson has spent hours on the moors in an attempt to feel close to her son.

She wrote letters to Hindley before her death in 2002, urging the killer to help her find Keith and has spoken to psychics about the whereabouts of his body.

Brady plea

Mrs Johnson has now appealed directly to Brady, who is held in Ashworth High Security Hospital on Merseyside.

"I'm pleading with him to get to me or the press or the police and tell me where Keith is, it is the last time it will be done," Mrs Johnson said.

"I appreciate what the police have done, they have done a lot of work in the last three to four years... they have done their best, they can't do anymore they have got nowhere else to look - it is up to Brady now to do what he can for me to get Keith back."

Keith Bennett is the only remaining undiscovered victim

A search of Saddleworth Moor in 2008 tried to match up photos taken by Hindley and Brady with aerial shots of the moor in an attempt to find him.

Brady was convicted in 1966 of murdering 10-year-old Lesley Ann Downey, Edward Evans, 17, and 12-year-old John Kilbride.

The judge imposed three concurrent life sentences on Brady, then aged 28.

Hindley, 23, was sentenced to two concurrent life sentences for the murder of Edward Evans and Lesley Ann Downey and found not guilty of the killing of John Kilbride.

In the 1980s, Brady and Hindley were separately taken back to the bleak moorland area, between Oldham and West Yorkshire, when GMP began a new search for bodies.

In 1987 police managed to locate the remains of Pauline Reade but, despite many weeks of digging, they were unable to find Keith's body.

"It is not fair on me, what I have had to go through," Mrs Johnson said.

"I did not ask him to be picked up and murdered."