Mum Winnie says goodbye

ANGUISH . . . Winnie Johnson, mother of Keith Bennett

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A PUBLIC memorial service for Moors Murder victim Keith Bennett will be held at Manchester Cathedral tomorrow.

The 12-year-old was abducted and killed by Myra Hindley and Ian Brady in June, 1964.

His body, which was buried on Saddleworth Moor, is the only one of the pair’s five victims that has never been found.

Police carried out a thorough 45-year search for Keith’s body, even taking Brady and Hindley up to the moors to see if they could pin-point the location but declared that they had exhausted all options available to them last July. Brady and Hindley, who also murdered Lesley Ann Downey (10), John Kilbride (12), Pauline Reade (16) and Edward Evans (17), were jailed for life in 1966.

After the first three bodies were found, Brady was taken back to Saddleworth in 1987 to help police find Pauline’s remains. Hindley died in November 2002, aged 60.

Keith’s mother Winnie Johnson (75) has now launched the Keith Bennett Trust to raise funds for their own search of the moors.

The Bishop of Manchester, The Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch, will preach at the service, which starts at 11am. Winnie will light a candle in tribute to her son as well as thanking those who have worked so hard to find his body.

The Beatles track “Till There Was You” will play and Father Ian Gomersall, vicar at Winnie’s church — St John Chrysostom in Victoria Park — will also speak about Keith.

The service will be broadcast live on Sky and ITN. Members of the public are welcome to attend.