CNN.com - UK child killer Hindley dead
William Burgess
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BURY ST EDMUNDS, England -- Myra Hindley, one of Britain's most notorious child-killers, has died in hospital at the age of 60.
A Home Office spokeswoman told CNN on Friday: "The Prison Service has confirmed that Myra Hindley died at 1658 GMT following respiratory failure."
Hindley had spent the last 36 years of her life in prison in connection with the deaths of five children in the 1960s. (Profile)
She was admitted to the West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds on Tuesday but her condition deteriorated.
The UK Prison Service statement said: "We can confirm Myra Hindley died at the West Suffolk hospital at 1658 today following respiratory failure.
"Her next of kin have been informed.
"There will now be a coroner's inquest as is routine with any prisoner who dies in custody."
Hindley and her lover Ian Brady tortured and sexually abused their five victims before burying the bodies on desolate moors near Manchester, in north west England. (Crimes)
Hindley and Brady, who is now 64, were jailed for life in 1966 for the sexual abuse, torture and murder of three children -- John Kilbride, 12, Lesley Ann Downey, 10, and Edward Evans, 17.
In 1987 they confessed to two more child killings -- those of Pauline Reade, 16, and Keith Bennett, 12.
Bennett's mother now fears her son's body will never be found.
Winnie Johnson said Hindley's death could mean the end of her 36-year search to find the makeshift grave of Keith Bennett, who was snatched in 1964.
He was killed by Hindley and Brady and his remains left on Saddleworth Moor.
Johnson told the Press Association: "I always hoped she would be able to tell me at least something of what I wanted to know and I've never given up that hope.
"Whatever happens, I'll never give up looking for Keith and I'll keep asking Brady."
She added: "I have no sympathy for her even in death. The pair of them have made my heart very hard and really I just hope she goes to Hell."
The remains of Reade, who vanished in July 1963, were found in a shallow grave on Saddleworth Moor in 1987 after Hindley and Brady's confessions.
Kilbride vanished in 1963 four months after Reade.
A photograph taken by Brady of Hindley posing on the edge of his grave holding her pet dog led police to the young boy's resting place.
Downey, was murdered the day after Christmas Day, 1964, after been enticed from a fairground to the house Hindley shared with her grandmother.
In Hindley's bedroom, she was stripped, sexually abused and tortured as they forced her to pose for pornographic photographs.
Her last desperate cries for mercy were taped by the pair -- a 16 minute 21 second recording that would be replayed at Hindley and Brady's trial and would secure their sadistic place in British criminal history.
Evans was murdered in October 1965 in a hail of axe blows. It was witnessed by Hindley's brother-in-law, who tipped off the police, triggering their arrest.
Peter Topping, a former investigating officer in the Hindley case, told Sky News: "Had she not been involved in the way she was, this murder would not have taken place.
"It takes a great deal for somebody to abduct young children as she did for Brady."
He added: "She was a little more involved in the murders than she admitted in her confession.
"Her initial stance after her conviction was that she had just been guilty by association, that she had no part in it ... and she got everybody to believe that."
Phil Woolas, the Labour MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth -- whose constituency covers Saddleworth Moor -- said no one would miss Hindley.
He said: "Whilst nobody would wish anybody suffering and pain, it is with a sense of relief that we can now begin to put this nightmare behind us.
"She never expressed any remorse and refused to cooperate with the investigations into Lesley Ann Downey's and Keith Bennett's deaths, and nobody in my constituency and this part of the world will mourn her passing."
Hindley, 60, was taken into a hospital at Bury St Edmunds, in eastern England, with a suspected heart attack at the beginning of this month.
She was readmitted to hospital on November 12, the Prison Service said.
A chain smoker, she had also suffered from angina and osteoporosis.
In a statement Hindley's solicitors, Taylor Nichol, said: "It is with regret that we have learned of her death today.
"Myra was deeply aware of the terrible crimes she had committed and of the suffering caused to those who died and to their relatives.
"She was acutely aware that she would not be forgiven by many.
"During her 37 years in prison those who came to know Myra, prison officials, doctors and lawyers, knew well that Myra truly repented for what she did.
"Myra leaves friends, family and an elderly mother, all of whom had supported her throughout."
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