Ian Brady; Smoke and Mirrors

                                                          Brady at the time of his arrest

Child murderer Ian Brady walked out of his mental health tribunal last week because “I’ve listened to this ad nauseam. I know it by heart.”

That was the first time since 1965 that Brady had been seen in public.  First time for 40 years that his voice had been heard.  And nothing he said was worth listening to unless you enjoy the macabre circus of an insane man taunting a nation.

He was actually trying to prove himself sane enough to go back to prison from his room at Ashworth hospital.

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He went back to the tribunal yesterday and spoke for a very long time about many subjects but the thrust of his argument seemed to be that he has just been acting all these years, studying the masters to act the part of the insane -using the Stanislavski Method.

A panel member asked him to clarify who Stanislavski was and received a blistering tirade for their trouble.

The tribunal found him insane, so he is back in hospital, back on his nasal tube, being force fed.

The decision was much to the relief of the families of the victims and their argument is sound but emotive- - the kids he killed wanted to live, but he didn't let them, Brady wants to die, we should not let him. The ruling was of insanity, and they came to the ruling very quickly as he was getting so much publicity.

The fact that his history speaks for itself - he and Myra Hindley killed and tortured five children in a way too horrible to blog about. The scars of his crimes run very deep in this country. I blogged earlier about a colleague who had written about his partner in crime.

While she was alive the press had fun with their tit for tat, she was worse than me ... I repented but he didn’t.

They were sick people, full stop.

                                  

At Ashworth – while he is considered ‘insane’ therefore ill – they have to treat him.  He has been on hunger strike for ten years and is being fed through a nasal tube. I saw a photograph of him taken about eight  years ago, he had that gaunt ridden appearance of one calorie starved through lack of food or  an ongoing disease process. The image reported in the court drawings were of a plump-faced rather well nourished individual.  Then it came out, he is on hunger strike but a member of staff at Ashworth says he will eat toast if she makes it for him and will eat food ... just not in front of others.

                                      

                                                        Courtesy of the Daily Record. 

                                                    The artists impression of Brady in Court

Weird kind of hunger strike.

I’m sure it has been pointed out to him ‘ad nauseam’ that even the Scottish Prison Service has a duty of care.  They will still feed him in prison, indeed the death of any inmate, whatever the cause – (or within 24 hours of release) triggers a very expensive enquiry.

And much more publicity for Brady.

This little hearing has cost a quarter of a million pounds for the tax payer.

Once the decision of the panel was announced he then went into some further rants ... his ranting included his opinions that Maddie’s support is hysteria, that his crimes were nothing compared to those of Tony Blair, that Jamie Bulger’s killers should not have been jailed and so it went on. Praised suicide bombers for their admirable commitment.

His most quoted comment was that the torture and murder of Keith, John, Patricia, Edward and Lesley Anne was trivial compared to the crimes of Tony Blair.

                                    

                                             Jackie, his mental health advocate.

                                                  (Manchester evening news)

His mental health advocate, Jackie quoted Brady saying: “The evidence given by Ashworth was a rag-bag of prison rumour and irrelevant ancient history. I was expecting the result to be negative."

Going on to explain Brady's rather extreme view of the world she said. “Over the years Ian has written tens of thousands of letters. He gets a lot of mail.

“He will have arguments with people and strike up debating positions. Many people write to him and state arguments to him to prompt him to write in this way.”

“Ian has always indulged in playing mind games with people.”

“He regards his life like a game of chess where he cannot move the pieces himself, so he prods and prompts other people to do it for him.”

She has known him for 14 years and  has said he wants to end his life whatever way he can. But if he really wanted to end his life, he would have done so by now. With him, it's all smoke and mirrors.

I do worry about his mental health advocate. Brady’s psychiatrist changes every 18 months as he is a highly manipulative and clever man. So why has she been at his side for 14 years?  Last year there was uproar when she was detained by the police as she had claimed that Brady had given her a letter telling her where the last of the bodies that of Keith Bennett, was buried.

                                                                     

 

Winnie, never ever stopped searching the moors for her son, not until the day she died.

In Britain we were very familiar with Keith’s mum, Winnie, who died last year, she devoted her life to walking the Moors, looking for her son’s resting place, the website that now supports  the  cause of discovering his remains is a touching one – do not give us money, just tells us if you know something, it is the duty of the police to find Keith’s body, not the public.

This letter was  claimed to be in Jackie’s possession just before Winnie died,  Jackie claims she gave it back to Brady unopened although it had been in her possession for a few days...well she gave it back after it had made front page news and  an hour long documentary was made about it.

As I write this Brady is moaning that he had  stopped Hollywood high honchos from  cashing in on his case, while moaning that he had no money out of the situation.

He writes: “There have been more than 30 books on my case; five plays; a London musical; a comic; some playing cards. So that leaves very little to exploit.”

It is obvious that if he really wanted to starve himself to death, he could have done so by now, all it would take was a wee bit of effort on his part.  But as always all he wants is his moment of publicity, and it’s a pity that we gave him it.

Today’s rants are that there is no point in appealing against the decision, but  I am sure he will, as it will feed his fire of being Britain’s most hated man.

The one good thing that came out of all this was the gallery at the tribunal was almost empty.  He did not get the audience he craves. The families, in particular that of Keith Bennett have always been dignified and restrained in their response.

Alan Bennett would just like Brady to tell him where his brother’s body is, so he can bury him.

                                        

                                                       Keith Bennett, a wee kid, full of mischief.

Not much to ask is it.

Caro GB 05/072013