Fund to find Moors victim's body

Winnie Johnson wants to bury her son at her local church

The mother of Moors Murder victim Keith Bennett is hoping a trust fund will finance a full-time search for the remains of her son on Saddleworth Moor.

The Keith Bennett Trust Fund hopes to employ a team, and buy specialised equipment, to find the boy's grave.

The 12-year-old from Manchester was killed by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley more than 40 years ago and is thought to have been buried on the moors.

His mother, Winnie Johnson, said: "It would be heaven if we found him."

Greater Manchester Police called off their hunt for his body in July saying they had exhausted all avenues available to them.

Mrs Johnson's close friend Norie Miles then decided to set up the fund and the website, which describes the work that is needed to find Keith's remains.

Photographic evidence

They hope to raise in excess of £50,000 to employ a team of experts to work on the moors full-time until the remains are found.

Mrs Johnson, 76, said: "I was devastated when the police said they could no longer continue with the hunt for Keith until they had fresh evidence.

"I have been waiting for more than 40 years to bury my little boy. Norie has been so helpful and has done so much for me.

"I am so grateful to the people who are working on this. I will find him, even if it kills me."

Keith Bennett was last seen on his way to his grandmother's house

Ms Miles, who has been working with Mrs Johnson for the past seven years, said: "We will not give up.

"We want to buy special scientific equipment so we can best pinpoint where Keith might be.

"We have the photographs that Ian Brady took, and it is a matter of elimination - finding where these are exactly, digging and then moving on if we don't find Keith's body."

Mrs Johnson wants to give her son a proper funeral at her local church and have a service at Manchester Cathedral.

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. Later in prison he admitted killing Keith Bennett.

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.

The Keith Bennett Trust Fund is holding two events, a ghost walk from Hyde Town Hall on 13 November and a concert at The Millpond in Stalybridge on 22 November.