Women Who Kill: Profiles of Female Serial Killers Read Online Free PDF

her van and waited for a likely victim to walk past. Soon she saw sixteen-year-old Pauline Reade, who lived just two doors away from Myra’s brother-in-law, David. The teenage David had recently married Myra’s little sister Maureen and they would soon produce their first child. Pauline was on her way to a dance a mere half mile away from the home she shared with her mum and dad.
    Myra called to Pauline and asked if she’d accompany her on a drive to the moors to look for an expensive lost glove. She promised Pauline some gramophone records as a reward for helping in the search, saying that she had them in the boot of the car. It was a lovely summer night - and Pauline wasn’t sure that her friendswould be at the dance - so she said she was in no hurry and happily agreed to the change of plan. Myra drove the unsuspecting girl to Saddleworth Moor and Ian followed a discreet distance behind on his motorbike.
    We will never know exactly what was said and done to the frightened teenager when the threesome met up - but by the end of the evening she had been raped by Ian Brady and had her throat cut by him. She struggled so hard that he found her difficult to control and would request that Myra procure him a younger and smaller victim next time.
    Now he fetched Myra and a spade from the van and led her back to the body. (Her variously reported reactions to this are detailed later in this chapter.) They buried the still warm corpse in a shallow grave. Myra then drove them home and Ian burned his clothes and shoes to destroy any forensic evidence.
    Like many criminals, Myra was fascinated by police work - and would now apply to join the force. She went for an interview, which she passed, and was given forms to fill in. Ian joked that it would be useful to have inside information and it was then, she said, that she decided not to take her application further. But she would later date a policeman who came to buy her van, seeing him on nights when Ian was otherwise engaged. Ian went to see his birth mother Peggy every week, but wouldn’t let Myra meet her. Even if she drove him to Peggy’s house, she had to wait outside in the car. It wasyet another subtle form of his sadism, making it clear to her that she wasn’t special enough to be introduced as his girlfriend.

The second victim
    Four months later Ian decided it was time to kill again. Myra bought the knife. The pair then offered twelve-year-old John Kilbride a lift home from the cinema. He knew not to accept lifts from strangers but thought he was safe because Myra was driving. He, too, was taken to a desolate part of the moor and raped by Ian Brady, who also admitted slapping the boy’s buttocks before strangling him. Myra stayed, acting as look-out, in the van.
    Brady later told her that he’d wanted to cut the child’s throat but that the knife wasn’t sharp enough so he strangled him with a thin piece of string. The boy’s remains were found in October 1965, two years after his death.

The third victim
    Seven months passed before the third death, that of another twelve-year-old, Keith Bennett. He’d gone to spend the night with his grandmother, a regularoccurrence. Myra and Ian encountered him before he reached his gran’s house, offered him a lift and drove him to the moors. He too was raped by Brady before being strangled. Despite extensive police searches with tracker dogs and specialist equipment, his body has never been found.

The fourth victim
    Ten-year-old Lesley Ann Downey died six months later, on Boxing Day 1964. In Beyond Belief, his book on the subject, author Emlyn Williams suggests that the day before, Ian had suggested he wanted to commit another murder but that Myra had refused to take part in it. He then packed his suitcase, suggesting the relationship was over, and she relented as she couldn’t live without him. He had become her life.
    In truth, it’s more likely that this incident took place some time after the first murder, that of Pauline