The search for Keith Bennett: Why man believes 12-year-old's body will be found decades after murder
SADDLEWORTH MOOR, ENGLAND: A person, who owns 5,000 acres of lands in the area of Saddleworth Moor where Ian Brady and Myra Hindley hid their victims, has expressed his belief that police will soon find the remains of Keith Bennett. Farmer Chris Crowther said that he would continue to cooperate with the Greater Manchester Police since he had promised Bennett's dying mother to find her son.
As per reports, authorities have been digging on Crowther’s land since Friday, September 30, after author Russell Edwards, who is researching the victims of Brady and Hindley, called them to tell them he had apparently discovered human remains in the same area. Crowther also claimed that there were high chances of finding Bennett during this fresh probe because the body of another victim, John Kilbride, was found there only in 1965.
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It has been said that Bennett was one of five children kidnapped and murdered by Hindley and Brady between July 1963 and October 1965. The duo died without telling where they buried the then-12-year-old Bennett, who they abducted in June 1964 while he was going to his grandmother's house.
Now, Crowther said that he would fulfill Bennett's late mother Winnie’s last wish. Winnie had reportedly met him just before dying of cancer in 2012. He said, “I'll be pleased if they find Keith because Winnie came up to see me when she was pretty poorly with cancer. She came up for a cup of coffee and asked me to carry on looking for Keith. She said, 'When you are gathering sheep, keep looking, keep looking Chris, will you promise me you will keep looking?' I said, 'Yeah every time I go out there, I'll look and see what I can see.'”
“I have always been looking ever since, just for something that was a clue to where Keith was. I've been looking for decades. I always said Keith will not be so far away from John Kilbride. He'll have them both together somewhere. He put the girls together and he'll [have] put the lads together,” the 65-year-old added.
Meanwhile, Alan, a family member of Bennett, slammed Edwards as he wrote on Facebook, “Instead of doing the rounds of media outlets, maybe that bloke should return to the moor and be a lot more accurate about the facts and location of his find. There’s a lot more I would like to say and ask but out of respect and gratitude for the cold case team and the forensic team I’ll keep quiet for now.”
Before this post, Alan had shared, “I think my final thoughts for the day have to be: What started as a 'Possible fragment of human jawbone,' became the 'Skull of a 12 year old," in the press overnight. The forensic team will determine what is there once and for all, no matter how long it takes to excavate the area. Those are the facts so far. In my last contact I was told that nothing at all had been found on the moor and they are about three feet down with the excavation.
“Apart from believing this is the wrong location for Keith and all the previous graves have been shallow, why, if the police were taken to the location, has nothing been discovered as yet? I cannot escape the feeling that we have been here before but all should be clear and final by some time tomorrow.”
Besides, on Saturday, October 1, senior investigating officer Cheryl Hughes said, “Following information received which indicated that potential human remains had been found on the Moors, specialist officers have today resumed excavation of a site identified to us. This information included photographs of the site and show what experts working with the informant have interpreted as a human jaw bone. No physical evidence of a jaw bone or skull has been examined. However, based on the photographs and information provided, and in line with GMP's usual practice to follow up any suggestion of human burial, we began our search of the site of interest.”
“We have not found any identifiable human remains but our work to excavate the site is continuing. Conditions are difficult and it may take us some time to fully complete the excavation but we are committed to ensuring this is undertaken in the most thorough way possible,” Hughes added.