In 1877, French psychologists, Laseque and Febret, invented the term folie a deaux. It has since been translated in many ways, for example: “double insanity” and “collective insanity.” Originally it was created to describe a psychological phenomenon in which two people share the same psychiatric disorder or delusion. The two parties are not always related, but they usually are closely associated to one another. In terms of criminal behavior, folie a deaux is used to describe a psychotic bond between two individuals who bring out the worst in one another. Each member of the folie a deaux incites and encourages negative behavior in the other member, causing him/her to commit acts that he/she may not have engaged in otherwise. These killer couples can be friends, relatives or lovers. Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono (the Hillside Stranglers) were cousins through marriage. Karla Homolka and Paul Bernardo were husband and wife. Not all killer couples are a folie a deaux, the term is reserved strictly for those who are criminally inclined, but never would have escalated to the commission of murder without the encouragement of his/her “other half.” Henry Lee Lucas and Otis Toole, for example, were not a folie a deaux; each of them had already committed several acts of murder prior to their first meeting. In the cases of lovers/husband and wife, there are usually sexual motives involved. The duo commit lust murder as a way of adding zest to their sex lives. In most cases, the male is the dominant half of the duo and the female is an active participant. The woman does not only abet her lover/husband, she also derives pleasure from the commission of the atrocities. In this article, we will explore the lives and crimes of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, one of the most depraved killer couples in the annals of criminal history.
Like many serial killers, Ian Brady had a disturbed childhood. Born as Ian Duncan Stewart on January 2, 1938, he was the illegitimate child of a struggling waitress. He never met his father and was raised by a foster family. As a teen, he exhibited the classic warning signs of a serial killer: exceptional intelligence, poor scholastic performance, animal torture, violence and early problems with the law. On multiple occasions, he was charged with theft and assault and served time in a correctional facility. He was a Nazi admirer and often recited quotations from Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf. He possessed a large collection of books about sadism, torture, domination and servitude; his favorite was Compulsion, which told the true story of the abduction and killing of a young boy by Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb.
The other half of the deadly duo was Myra Hindley. She was born on July 23, 1942. Like her future lover, she also had a flawed childhood. Her father was a paratrooper during WWII and became an abusive alcoholic upon returning home. When Myra’s younger sister Maureen was born in August of 1946, her parents felt overwhelmed by the responsibility and sent Myra to live with her grandmother. Myra was not the most intelligent person and often received poor grades in school. At the age of 15, she was devastated by the death of her friend, Michael Higgins. He drowned in a local reservoir and she was left with an overpowering sense of guilt; she held herself responsible for not being there to save him. She converted to Michael’s religion, Roman Catholicism, and attended mass regularly. She met Ian in 1961; they both worked for the same chemical company.
The two were a perfect match. Myra became completely devoted to Ian, renouncing her faith and posing for pornographic photographs, while attired in Nazi/dominatrix costumes. She believed that he was an undiscovered genius and admired his psychotic views. Brady was enticed by his lover’s implicit devotion to him and felt compelled to further explore his depravities.
They followed a pre-meditated protocol when procuring their victims. Myra would travel through the streets in a borrowed van as Brady followed on a motorcycle. When he spotted a potential victim, he would flash his headlights to signal for Myra to lure the victim into the van. She happily complied.
The first victim was a 16-year-old girl named Pauline Reade. She was abducted on July 12, 1963, and driven to the moors. She was savagely raped, bludgeoned with a shovel and attacked with a knife. Her body was buried and would not be recovered until 25 years later. According to Myra’s subsequent confession, she was not present while her lover killed Pauline. She claims to have been called upon to help dispose of the body.
On November 23, 1963, the couple abducted John Kilbride, who was only 12-years-old.
According to Myra, Brady stabbed and strangled the young boy. He then buried him after sexually violating the cadaver.
By June 16, 1964, the couple owned a pick-up van. They lured Keith Bennett, 12, into the van and drove out to the moors. There, Brady strangled and sexually abused the young boy. Photographs were taken during the commission and the boy was buried in a deep hole. It is not uncommon for a killer to take a “souvenir” from his victims. This can be anything from a photograph to a body part. The item is kept and is used to induce sexual arousal at a later time. It aids the killer in the reliving of the murder and sustains him/her in between killings.
On Christmas Eve, the couple kidnapped Leslie Ann Downey, 10, from a Christmas fair. Myra later recalled, “She went with us like a lamb to the slaughter.” Leslie was brought to the couple’s home, which had been prepped with cameras and lights. What happened next would later bring the most desensitized detectives to tears. Leslie was forced to undress and pose for explicit photographs. Brady tape-recorded her pleas for help and her horrified screams and then raped and strangled her. Due to a snowstorm, she was buried the following day.
Around this time, the couple was spending a lot of time with Myra’s sister and brother-in-law, Maureen and David Smith. They were 19 and 17 years old respectively. David was somewhat of a juvenile delinquent and enjoyed Ian’s company. He admired his gun collection and Nazi views. The two often planned robberies, but they were never executed.
On October 5, 1965, Brady abducted a 17-year-old boy named Edward Evans. He brought him back to his home and invited David over to the house. David arrived to find Brady attacking the young man with an axe. Smith was horrified and reported the incident to the authorities soon after. Smith later recalled the horrific incident, “It was a horrible scene. The lad was screaming and trying to get away. Ian just kept hitting him terrible blows on the head, neck and shoulders… I was frightened to death, my stomach was churning. There was blood everywhere, on the walls, the fireplace, all over.”
Immediately after receiving the Smith’s call, police headed over to Brady’s home. In an upstairs bedroom was the dead body of Edward Evans. The axe was nearby in a bag. Several firearms were located and the two were arrested.
Further searches revealed a plethora of photographs, some pornographic ones of the couple and many of the couple at various moorland scenes. A notebook was found, containing a list of names; included on the list was John Kilbride. A tape-recording was found; it featured Myra reading a news report of Leslie Ann’s disappearance aloud. Some of the moors in the photographs were recognized and searched, resulting in the finding of Leslie Ann’s body.
A couple of days later, an officer was perusing a book that belonged to Myra. In its pages, he found a luggage receipts for suitcases lodged at Manchester Central Station. The luggage was retrieved by police and their horrific contents were revealed. A large collection of incriminating evidence was found in the suitcases, including: bludgeons, weapons, wigs, ammunition, literature about torture, pornographic photographs of Leslie Ann and a spool of tape. The tape contained the cries and screams of Leslie Ann, as she begged to be released.
The body of John Kilbride was found approximately 400 yards away from Leslie’s gravesite. Officers recollected that on off Brady’s photographed pictured the couple sitting at that exact site with their dogs. The public was outraged by the heinous acts of the killer couple. While awaiting their trial, they were heavily guarded to protect them from other inmates. Their food was tested for poison before they were allowed to eat and the dock of the courtroom was reinforced with bulletproof glass.
The couple denied all charges and attempted to shift the blame onto David Smith, who was the prosecution’s star witness. After only four hours of deliberation, the jury found Brady guilty of all three murders. Hindley was found guilty of the murders of Leslie Ann and Edward Evans. Both were sentenced to life imprisonment. Brady was subsequently transferred to a maximum-security mental hospital. Hindley was rejected for parole on multiple occasions and died on November 15, 2002.
On July 1, 1987, a search team noticed a difference in vegetation patterns, indicating disturbed soil. They searched the area and recovered the body of Pauline Reade, the first victim of the deranged duo. Keith Bennett’s body was never found.
Reference:
- Innes, Brian. Serial Killers. London: Quercus, 2006.
