Brady: Child killings were ‘recreational’

Moors Murderer Ian Brady said he was “a petty criminal” who killed his victims for an “existential experience”.

The notorious child killer told a mental health tribunal he was not psychotic or insane and should be allowed to serve the rest of his whole life term in prison rather than a maximum security hospital.

Brady (75) compared what he described as “recreational killings” to the acts of soldiers and politicians.

“A criminal in a pursuit of crime is going to gain from the crime,” he said. “He has given a value to the person he is about to kill.”

“What value did you get?” asked panel member Cameron Boyd.

Brady replied: “Existential experience.”

He also reserved scorn for the media and its continued interest in him. “Why are they still talking about Jack the Ripper, after a century? Because of the dramatic background, the fog, cobbled streets. Mine’s the same.”

Brady’s legal team say he has a severe narcissistic personality disorder but is not mentally ill and could be treated in prison rather than hospital.

Officials at Ashworth argue Brady remains a paranoid schizophrenic who needs round-the-clock care.



The stepfather of one of Brady’s victims said listening to him describe the killings as “recreational” was sickening.

Alan West, whose stepdaughter Lesley Ann Downey was killed aged 10 in 1964, said he wants the “monster” to remain in a maximum security hospital.

Mr West told ITV's Daybreak: “Brady is definitely mental. He should stay where he is because he'll get all the punishment he deserves rather than all the freedom of a prison. He's just a monster.”

Asked how it felt to hear him describe the child murders as ‘recreational’, he said: “That was a sickening joke — only a madman would say that. It really upset me. Keep that tube up his nose, fill it with gasoline.”