Moors murderer Ian Brady too ill to attend mental health tribunal Moors murderer Ian Brady was sentenced to life in prison in 1966 for the murders of three children and has spent the past 25 years in Ashworth hospital. The Moors murderer Ian Brady is too ill to attend a hearing about his legal move to be declared sane and transferred to a prison, it emerged on Friday. The mental health tribunal hearing has been adjourned to an unspecified date. A ruling by Judge Robert Atherton, who was due to preside over Monday's hearing, said the tribunal had received information on Thursday about Brady's health that made a delay necessary. A short postponement has been ruled out as a result of the 74-year-old killer's recent bout of poor health, which led to him spending two nights in an NHS hospital in Merseyside. Brady has been detained in the high-security psychiatric hospital, Ashworth in Maghull, since 1985, when he was sectioned. He began a hunger strike in 1999 and has since been force-fed against his will. If he were successful at a future tribunal and was transferred to prison, he could starve himself to death. In a statement released by the judicial communications office on behalf of Atherton, the judge said: "The tribunal yesterday received information concerning the medical condition of Ian Brady following his admission to hospital on Tuesday 3 July. It also received submissions on his behalf from Hugh Southey QC and from Eleanor Gray QC on behalf of the responsible authority, Ashworth hospital. The tribunal accepted that Mr Brady's medical condition, though not life threatening, is such as to preclude his attendance and proper participation in the hearing in public which is listed for Monday. The tribunal considered that it would not be proper to continue in his absence as it had been a significant factor in the decision to grant a hearing in public that he would participate in such a hearing. The tribunal looked at whether the situation could be accommodated by a short postponement. It concluded that, given the present prognosis, that would not be practical. The tribunal are acutely aware of the public interest in this case being resolved as soon as possible and of the extensive arrangements which have been made to facilitate its hearing. But, in the circumstances, the tribunal had to conclude that the forthcoming hearing must be adjourned to a date to be fixed when the commitments of those involved have been ascertained because of Mr Brady's present physical condition. When it does take place, at a date to be announced, proceedings from Ashworth hospital will be relayed, by videolink to Manchester's civil justice centre. On Monday, Brady suffered a seizure while speaking on the phone to his solicitor, Richard Nelson, and became acutely unwell. He was transferred to a nearby NHS hospital for two nights, amid tight security. An earlier attempt by Brady to persuade the courts to intervene in his case failed in 2000, when the high court refused a judicial review, ruling that he lacked the ability to make rational decisions in relation to food refusal and force-feeding. While Brady is detained in hospital he can be force fed, something that would not be possible if he were declared sane and transferred to prison. Brady has not been seen in public since 1966 when he was convicted with Myra Hindley at Chester Assizes of murdering five children, whose bodies were concealed on Saddleworth Moor in Greater Manchester. The victims of the Moors murderers were Pauline Reade, 16, who disappeared on her way to a party on 12 July, 1963; John Kilbride, 12, snatched in November the same year; Keith Bennett, snatched on 16 June, 1964, after he left home to visit his grandmother; Lesley Ann Downey, 10, who was lured away from a funfair on Boxing Day 1964; and Edward Evans, 17, who was killed in October 1965. In 1987, Hindley and Brady were taken back to the Moors in an attempt to find the remains of Keith Bennett and Pauline Reade, but only Pauline's remains were found. Hindley died in 2002 aged 60.