Search for Keith could take years

GRIM search . . . the team probes the moor.

Fresh hope for Winnie in new Moors probe

A NEW search for the last remaining Moors Murder victim could take years, a rescue expert leading the hunt has revealed.

Four sniffer dogs backed by a team from an international rescue centre, spent more than eight hours on wind-swept moors above Greenfield yesterday.

They carried out a detailed examination of land near the main A635 Greenfield-Huddersfield Road in a bid to find the body of 12-year-old Keith Bennett who was murdered by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley.

Keith’s mother Winnie Johnson (76) was present as the search got under way.

David Jones (58), who headed the eight-strong rescue centre team, said up to 19 potential sites had been earmarked for examination.

“If we’re looking at all the sites we’ve been given, we could be here for months — or even years,” he added.

“Our efforts would be helped if Ian Brady pointed us in the right direction.

“He could bring closure on all this. Like others, we just want to see Keith’s body returned to his mother.”

Mr Jones described the meticulous nature of the search.

He said: “My team marked out lines to create grids, testing them with metal probes, before the dogs begin sniffing soil samples or the site itself.

“We probed the soil and, in some cases, the peat is up to 10ft or deeper.”

Mr Jones said he was hoping to seek sponsors to underpin the search operation.

Oldham Mountain Rescue team leader Mick Nield said: “We passed on our local knowledge to help their efforts.”

Keith Bennett vanished from his home in Longsight in 1964. He was the third of five children abducted and murdered by Brady and Hindley.

Police abandoned the search for his body last year, saying it would resume only if new information came to light.

Mrs Johnson has not been able to hold a funeral for her son as his body has never been found.

But after an emotional memorial service at Manchester Cathedral a few weeks ago, she made her first-ever flight over the moors with Diggle-based Pennine Helicopters.

In 1987, Brady and Hindley confessed to killing him. Hindley died in jail in November, 2002, aged 60. Brady has spent the past 25 years at the high-security Ashworth Hospital in Merseyside.