'Gross Interference with the Course of Justice' The News of the World and the Moors Murder Trial
It was, declared the News of the World's (NOTW) front page on 17 April 1966, 'The Murder Trial of the Century' and, for once, the hyperbolic language was justified. The prosecution of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley for the murder of three children 12 year old John Kilbride, 10 year old Lesley Ann Downey and 17 year old Edward Evans generated huge interest both in Britain and around the world. Over 150 journalists, and 5 authors, attended the trial, all aiming to satisfy the intense public curiosity in the so called 'Moors Murders' and 300 hundred extra policemen were drafted in to ensure the participants in the case safe passage in and out of the courtroom amidst the noisy crowds gathered outside.1 The attention elicited by the case was not hard to explain. The sheer brutality of the murders, the unusual presence of a glamorous young woman in the dock, the widespread suspicion that the accused were a product of the 'permissive' mores of modern society and the knowledge that, if guilty, they would narrowly avoid the death penalty, following the suspension of capital punishment the previous year all of these ingredients heightened the controversy and the outrage surrounding the trial. No one at the time could have predicted, however, the extent to which the case would continue to haunt the public imagination, and be played out in the pages of the popular newspapers, in subsequent decades as two more victims Pauline Reade and Keith Bennett were confirmed and the grim search for bodies on the moors continued. A study of the press in 1985 found that the 'Moors Murderers' featured more prominently than all other 'sex criminals' in custody put together; Ian Brady still had sufficient news value in 2013 to earn several front page lead stories. 2