Winnie laid to rest

Photo: Dave Thompson

CHURCH blessing the coffin is carried into the church.

THE mother of Moors murder victim Keith Bennett, was finally laid to rest yesterday after a half a century of torment over the murder of her son.

The funeral of Winnie Johnson (78) was the final act of a lifetime of campaigning to persuade killer Ian Brady to reveal the location of her son’s remains on Saddleworth Moor.

At the service at St Chrysostom’s Church, in Victoria Park, Manchester, where Mrs Johnson, a widow, was a regular parishioner and Keith attended Sunday school, the names of her son’s killers were not mentioned.

Instead, Winnie’s family, friends and members of the public heard tributes to a courageous mother who battled on despite a life touched by tragedy.

Winnie’s desire to know Keith’s whereabouts became ever more desperate after she was diagnosed with the cancer that took her life two weeks ago.

Canon Ian Gomersall, rector of St Chrysostom’s, told mourners: “I will not go into the detail of this, nor will I name here the perpetrators of that evil,” he said.

“What I will do is pay tribute to this remarkable woman. I know my words of tribute will be shared by so many people.”


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