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Moors murders: Victim Keith Bennett's brother ‘frustrated’ over claims that boy's remains have been found

Alan Bennett is the brother of Keith Bennett, one of the five victims killed and buried by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley on Saddleworth Moor in the early 1960s

SADDLEWORTH MOOR, ENGLAND: The brother of Moors murder victim Keith Bennett said he is “frustrated, annoyed, and confused” over claims that a child’s remains have been discovered by an author.

Keith Bennett was one of the five victims, who were killed and buried by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley on Saddleworth Moor in the early 1960s. While the investigators managed to find the remains of three other youngsters, Bennett’s body was never recovered. But now, the investigators have a new lead after author Russell Edwards claimed he unearthed a child’s jawbone on Friday, September 30, 2022. Responding to the claims, the police forensic team started digging around the location where Edwards claimed he found the remains.

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However, the forensic team who have been digging the location since Thursday, September 29 have so far found nothing, and Keith Benneth's brother Alan Benneth believes the forensic team has been searching in the wrong location.

Posting on Facebook, the 66-year-old, Keith’s closest surviving family member, wrote, “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.”

In a follow-up comment, Alan said there appeared to be “more than meets the eye” to the author’s claims. “I am just getting frustrated, annoyed, confused, and feeling a lot more emotions because there is more to this than meets the eye and I cannot understand why that bloke appears not to have been exact in his information to the police about the location."

“Surely, he cannot have forgotten exactly where it is after his claims about his years of investigations. Just a few of the hundreds of thoughts running through my mind,” he added.

“There are two (out of many) occasions that stick out in my memory of finds on the moor. One was found by ourselves when we came across some material with press stud fastener, like those on a casual jacket. We immediately contacted the police and the site was investigated the following morning,” he continued.

“Unfortunately, somebody informed the press once everybody had returned home to their various locations on the day of the find. It turned out to be nothing related to Keith, it was a piece of camping equipment," Alan said. 

“Then a sheep farmer found some bones, unfortunately, he contacted the press before the police (does that ring a bell in this case as well). The police went to the moor and erected a tent before examining the find. It turned out to be sheep bones,” he further informed.

Keith Bennet, 12, was the only victim whose body was never recovered by the police. The bodies of Pauline Reade, 16, John Kilbride, 12, and Lesley Ann Downey, 10, were eventually found after rounds of extensive searches of the Moors. Keith was abducted by Brady back in June 1964 when he was on his way to visit his grandmother’s place.

When investigators asked Brady, who died in 2017, about where he buried Keith, he claimed that he had forgotten where he buried the boy. Edwards believed he has finally managed to recover Keith's body, just a few hundred yards from the site where the infamous duo buried their other victims. During the process, he discovered a skull that experts believe is that of a child aged around 11-12 based on the teeth present.

Edwards recalled the moment he made the discovery. "The smell hit me about 2ft down," he said. "Like a sewer, like ammonia. It was on my clothes. I stank of it. The soil reeked. I worked as a gravedigger when I was 19. That hits you, that smell of death. It is distinctive. Then we found blue and white striped material. Then I stopped. I put everything back as I found it."

The author said he's convinced it is the youngster's body. “This is about peace for Keith and closure for the family," he added.

On Sunday, senior investigating officer Cheryl Hughes from Greater Manchester police said: “Following information received which indicated that potential human remains had been found on the Moors, specialist officers from GMP have today again resumed excavation of a site identified to the force.