Face to Face with Evil

Book excerpt: ON 15 MAY 2017, IAN BRADY DIED IN HOSPITAL, ENTIRELY UNREPENTANT OF HIS EVIL CRIMES. WITH HIM ALMOST CERTAINLY DIED THE SECRET OF WHERE THE BODY OF TWELVE-YEAR-OLD KEITH BENNETT, THE LAST OF HIS AND MYRA HINDLEY'S YOUNG VICTIMS, LIES. Ian Brady was one of the most notorious and reviled serial killers in Britain. With his co-conspirator, Myra Hindley, he committed what became known as 'the Moors Murders' in which five children were abducted, assaulted and murdered. Dr Chris Cowley has a PhD in Cognitive Psychology and lectures in Forensic Criminology. He is in the unique position of having had exclusive access to Brady and, for six years, conducted groundbreaking research by corresponding with Brady and visiting him in prison. By gaining his trust, Cowley was able to take an unrivalled look inside the mind of a serial killer. This in-depth and revealing book reproduces letters and transcripts of conversations with Brady which, until the first edition came out, had never been published before. Using this fresh perspective and original material, Dr Cowley sheds new light on what went wrong in Brady's formative years to set him on a path of crime, and how Hindley became the lethal factor that started Brady's murder cycle. It also reveals Brady's unflinching account of being caught and convicted of serial murder, and his thoughts and emotions concerning Hindley, recorded as he moved into his second decade on hunger strike. This important study provides information that is essential to our understanding of the psychology of serial killers. By broadening our knowledge of these complex issues, we can increase the likelihood of catching murderers, and perhaps even prevent their terrible crimes from taking place.