Mums New Hope In Search for Keith Bennett

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1178364_mums_new_hope_in_search_for_keith_bennett
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OCTOBER 22, 2009

A TRUST has been set up to help the family of missing Moors murder victim Keith Bennett try to find his body themselves.

Greater Manchester Police declared in July they had stopped looking for where serial killers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley buried him.

Now friends and family of Keith's mum Winnie Johnson have set up the Keith Bennett Trust to raise funds for an extensive scientific search of Saddleworth Moor - and to search for other missing children in Britain.

Winnie, 75, said: "I was devastated when GMP announced the search for Keith was over. The trust has given me new hope.

"Forensic experts have given us their time for free to highlight areas where Keith could be and we have been through archives hunting every clue Brady and Hindley may have given.

"As the police won't do it, we're going to do it ourselves. The money raised will also go to similar projects to help mums and dads in the same position I've been in all these years - and find their children."

It has been 45 years since Keith's tragic disappearance. The trust aims to fund a scientific search to give Winnie the chance to bring her son home.

Keith was 12 when he was abducted on the way to his gran's on June 16, 1964, and killed by Brady and Myra Hindley on Saddleworth Moor. The pair - who also murdered Lesley Ann Downey, 10, John Kilbride, 12, Pauline Reade, 16, and Edward Evans, 17 - were jailed for life two years later.

After the first three bodies had been found, Brady was taken back to Saddleworth in 1987 to help police find Pauline's remains. Hindley died in November 2002, aged 60.

To boost the fund organisers will hold a music festival at the Millpond pub in Stalybridge on November 22. It starts at 1pm until late and a host of Corrie stars is are expected to support ex-Street regular Scott Wright as he belts out hits. Also singing is Casualty and Waterloo Road actor Luke Bailey and rock'n'roller Vince Hughes.

They will be supported by recently signed pop band Outrage, Tameside's Got Talent winner Jo Farrow, tribute act ABBA Fusion and a host of local singers.

Tickets to be £5 adults and £3 children, family tickets are £12. All funds go to the Trust.

To book tickets e-mail - kbtrust@live.co.uk or for more information go to http://www.searchingforkeith.com/

I really hope that this poor woman is able to bury her son before she herself is buried

It is very sad that his body has never been found but 45 years is a long time and did Winnie Johnson really expect the police to keep searching after all this time? Sorry to be blunt to you have to call a halt after a certain length of time and I think 45 years is that time. The chances of his remains being found are slim. The terrain of the Saddleworth Moors shifts each year. I know these moors well.

At least she's not using the trust fund to pay her mortgage.

Jennifer wrote:I really hope that this poor woman is able to bury her son before she herself is buried

Absolutely agree with you Jennifer. I would bet she would give anything to lay her darling boy to rest.

I've been followiong her story for many years and always hoped and prayed she would have closure. I really dont think that will happen now but at least she'll be reunited with her beloved son one day.

45 years of hope is one hell of a millstone to bear for any parent. How this mother has coped with her loss in all those years I couldn't even begin to imagine. In all those years she has maintained a dignified, private hope only occasionally raising the profile so her 45-year plight is never forgotten. What a courageous & dignified mother. Kudos to her and one sincerely hopes & prays she finds peace in her late life before its sadly too late.