Moors murderer Ian Brady's fight for the right to die 'costs taxpayers £500,000' NHS was forced to spend £200,000 to prove the killer is insane £250,000 of taxpayers' money spent on the 75-year-old's legal aid He racked up £50,000 in tribunal costs to hear his bid to be moved to prison Costly: Moors Murderer Ian Brady has racked up legal bills worth thousands of pounds, including £250,000 of legal aid Moors murderer Ian Brady cost the taxpayer and NHS £500,000 during his battle to be moved from a mental hospital to prison. The evil killer's legal application challenged the order made under the Mental Health Act when he was transferred from prison to Ashworth in 1985, when he was diagnosed as being a paranoid schizophrenic. Brady's legal team argued that, despite his severe personality disorder, he is not mentally ill and therefore no longer fulfills the legal criteria for detention in hospital. Brady has suggested that, if he is allowed to go back to a jail, he would be 'free to end his own life' by starving himself to death. The NHS was forced to spend £200,000 proving that the 75-year-old was insane, while the killer - who has the right to legal aid - racked up £250,000 of taxpayers' money in legal bills, and tribunal costs were estimated at £50,000 the Daily Mirror reported. Mersey Care NHS Trust told the newspaper that it will pay £200,000 in legal bills - the equivalent of nine nurses' annual salary. But after he lost his expensive legal bid, he is to remain a patient at a maximum security hospital. The decision, following a week-long public hearing in June, means the infamous child killer will stay in Ashworth Hospital on Merseyside for the foreseeable future on the grounds that he is mentally insane. Victims" families have criticised giving Brady, 75, the opportunity to 'grandstand' at the mental health tribunal, while others described the hearing as a 'circus' and a 'complete waste of taxpayers" money'. The tribunal was the first time Brady has been seen in public since the 1980s, when he was taken back to Saddleworth Moor in the search for the bodies of two of his victims, and the first time he had spoken in public since being jailed for life at Chester Assizes in 1966. Campaign: Brady, pictured here appearing at the tribunal via video link, has suggested that if he is allowed to go back to a jail he would be 'free to end his own life' by starving himself to death The decision on Brady's appeal was given by the three-man panel headed by Judge Robert Atherton, who heard the tribunal at Ashworth. Brady has the right to challenge the decision which would require a further hearing at an Upper Tribunal. The reasons for the tribunal's decision will be released at a later date. Taxpayers have forked out more than £14million on Ian Brady since he was convicted nearly 50 years ago. The Moors murderer, who tortured and killed five children with his then-girlfriend Myra Hindley, has racked up the costs of his keep by staging a 14-year hunger strike and a series of failed legal challenges - for which he has relied on legal aid. Hospital: His legal application challenged the order made under the Mental Health Act when he was transferred from prison to Ashworth in 1985, when he was diagnosed as being a paranoid schizophrenic Brady spent 19 years as a Category A prisoner after his conviction in 1966, spending time in Wormwood Scrubs, Durham, Parkhurst and Gartree prisons at a cost of at least £750,000 - according to figures reported on in June. The cost of keeping him there for 28 years has been around £7.6million, according to the latest figures which put the cost of keeping a person in a high security unit at an average of £749 a day - or £273,000 a year. It is almost eight times more expensive holding Brady in the mental health unit than in a prison, which would cost around £40,000 per year. The difference is largely made up from the salaries of the huge numbers of specialist staff needed to maintain security and care for the high risk patients at Ashworth, including 11 consultants and 649 nursing staff along with psychiatrists and psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists, teachers, physical health care staff, chaplains, cooks, cleaners and security staff. But the price of keeping the murderer alive has been dramatically increased since 1999 when he went on hunger strike in protest at being moved to a ward for people with severe personality disorders. Terry Kilbride, whose brother John was snatched in November 1963 aged 12, said Brady should stay in hospital. He said: 'He knows what he's doing, he's a very clever person up there, which he will be, he's had plenty of time to learn hasn't he, he's got a law degree, he's learned German and all this, that and the other.'