The witness:Myra Hindley's brother-in-law David Smith first alerted police to the evil pair when he reported the murder of Edward Evans at their home in 1965
DAVID SMITH - THE WITNESS
As Myra Hindley's brother-in-law he more than anyone was closely linked to the case and whose life was forever blighted by his association with the serial killers.
Smith died aged 64 in June 2012 and although he played no part in the killings for the rest of his life lived under a cloud of suspicion.
His former sister in law had maintained that Smith was part of their pact and had been Brady's partner in crime only to retract what she said was a 'pack of lies' in 1987.
Smith, who left school at 15, looked up to Brady and spent many evenings with him and Hindley on the Moors where they talked about sex, torture and Nazis.
Married to Hindley's 19-year-old sister Maureen he was just 17 years old when he witnessed Brady battering Edward Evans to death with an axe.
Terrified that he would be next, he felt forced to help Brady and Hindley clean up the nauseating mess.
Smith called police and tipped them off about the murder bringing an end to the killing spree.
He gave evidence against the couple at their trial but that didn't stop people from thinking he was involved.
Whistleblower: Mr Smith, pictured, was married to Hindley's 19-year-old sister Maureen he was just 17 years old when he witnessed Brady battering teenager Mr Evans to death with an axe. He feigned calm while inside the house and immediately told police
He and his wife were forced to flee their council home after the words 'Child Killer Lives Here' was scrawled on a wall.
In 1972 Smith found himself on trial accused of murdering his own father. He had given him a glass of milk laced with barbiturates as he lay dying of cancer in a mercy killing.
A jury convicted him of manslaughter and he was sentenced to two days in prison. After his marriage to Maureen ended he continued to live in the North of England but later moved to Ireland with his second wife Mary and daughter Jodie.
He had three sons from his marriage to Maureen. His wife Mary said he remained haunted by what he had seen until his death from cancer in Galway where they ran a bed and breakfast lodging at their 400 year old cottage. It wasn't only Smith who was left mentally scarred by his involvement in the Moors Murders.
IAN FAIRLEY -- THE DETECTIVE
Arresting officer: Ian Fairley was a young detective when arrested Brady after receiving the telephone tip off from Smith
Ian Fairley was a young detective when arrested Brady after receiving the telephone tip off from Smith.
Former Chief Superintendent Fairley recalled how Brady was lying in bed writing a sick note to his employer excusing himself from work when they went to arrest him.
The child killer did not put up a struggle and went quietly from 16 Wardle Brook Avenue in Hattersley, Greater Manchester, after the trussed up body of Edward Evans was found in an upstairs room.
Fairley had told Brady they were investigating 'an act of violence involving guns' and he gave permission for the officers to look round the house'.
He said: 'The three of us went in. Hindley was dressed for business and Brady was in bed. We found the body of Edward Evans and we found the guns. Edward Evans was trussed up in a plastic bag in the bedroom.
Brady's only comment was to say : 'Eddie and I had a row and the situation got out of hand.'
Fairley added: 'Brady was intelligent, nobody's fool, a very deep thinker. He thought everything through before he spoke to you. He was a man who likes to control.'
With other officers they began searching Brady's library books and Fairley realised he might be responsible for more than one murder.
A left luggage ticket led them to a locker in Manchester Central Railway station.
Telephone tip-off:Fairley, pictured, told Brady they were investigating 'an act of violence involving guns' and he gave permission for the officers to look round the house' in Greater Manchester. He found the 'trussed up' body of Edward Evans upstairs
Suspicions: Fairley found a picture of a naked girl with a scarf around her neck - later identified as Lesley Ann Downey - opening up the full horror of the killers
Fairley found a picture of a naked girl with a scarf around her neck - later identified as Lesley Ann Downey - opening up the full horror of the killers.
Fairley recalled: 'That really was the Pandora's Box, if you like.'
After his death his widow, Diane, told the Manchester Evening News : 'He worked on the Moors Murder inquiry until it came to trial - he considered both Brady and Hindley to be truly evil.'
ARTHUR BENFIELD -- THE POLICE CHIEF
Arthur Benfield led a team of 100 detectives to bring Brady and Hindley to justice before he died in 1995 aged 82
He led a team of 100 detectives to bring Brady and Hindley to justice. The head of Cheshire CID he died in 1995 aged 82.
The seven month long investigation was the high point of his career which began in 1938 and the police work was praised at the trial of the pair by Judge Mr Justice Fenton Atkinson.
He praised the 'utmost skill and thoroughness' of the police working on the case after they had discovered a left-luggage ticket in Hindley's communion prayer book that led them to make the macabre discovery of a photo of the naked girl.
A pipe smoking bachelor, Benfield headed up 17 murder hunts while head of CID in Cheshire from 1965 until his retirement in 1973.
SIR FENTON ATKINSON - TRIAL JUDGE
sad*stic:Sir Fenton Atkinson was the trial judge. In sentencing Brady and Hindley he called them 'two sad*stic killers of the utmost depravity'.
The two week trial of Brady and Hindley at Cheshire Assizes attracted worldwide attention and was overseen with a firm hand by Sir Fenton Atkinson.
He died in 1982 and while best known for the Moors Murders trial had presided over several high profile appeals, including those of the Great Train Robbers and James Hanratty who was hanged in 1962.
In sentencing Brady he called the murders of the three victims a 'truly horrible case' and condemned the accused as 'two sad*stic killers of the utmost depravity' Atkinson later wrote to the Home Secretary saying Brady should never be set free saying he was 'wicked beyond belief'
He wrote: 'I hope Brady will not be released in any foreseeable future (assuming his fellow prisoners allow him to live) and that Hindley (apart from some dramatic conversion) will be kept in prison for a very long time. Indeed I would not expect to be available for consultation when any question of release comes up for consideration.
But I do not claim sufficient prophetic insight to venture to suggest any terms of years.
WINNIE JOHNSON, KEITH BENNETT'S MOTHER & VICTIMS' FAMILIES
Perhaps the saddest of all those touched by the murders was that of Winnie Johnson.
After Brady confessed to killing her 12 year old son she campaigned tirelessly to find his body which was buried out on Saddleworth Moor.
Brady's victims: John Kilbride, Lesley Ann Downey, Edward Evans, Pauline Reade and Keith Bennett, the victims of moors murderers Brady and Hindley
Fight for justice: Winnie Johnson went to her grave when she died in 2012 never knowing where her 12 year old son Keith Bennett had been buried on Saddleworth Moor
Plea: Mrs Johnson be
Police re-opened the investigation and took Brady and Hindley back to the Moors in an attempt to locate the body of Bennett and that of Pauline Reade.
Despite an extensive search the remains were never found. Winnie died in 2012 aged 78 without ever finding her son and with Brady's death he has taken the secret of his final resting place to the grave.
It has emerged the killer refused to give up the secret on his death bed despite pleas from police and a lawyer representing the family.
Lawyer John Ainley told Good Morning Britain: 'The police spoke to me in the course of the evening, and they were trying to have access to his papers.
'That's difficult without consent from his solicitors and a court order. They (the police) were trying, I think, to implore Brady at this very late stage to pass on any information or documents to them so they could carry out a meaningful search of the Moors.'
While all those involved in the investigation and trial have since died many family members of the victims are still alive.
Many were celebrating the news. Terry West, whose sister Lesley Ann Downey was murdered aged ten in 1964 said: 'I poured myself a glass of wine when I found out - we've been waiting for this day for such a long time. It's closure for our family.
Terry Kilbride, the brother of victim John, said he will still have to deal with the 'nightmare' Brady has left behind.
He said: 'It's a lot to take in. It's been years and years of anguish and pain for us and the families of the victims. 'But nothing will change. He's dead but we will have to still live with the nightmare that he left behind. 'He's ruined our lives all these years and he'll still ruin it even though he's gone. I feel numb.'
Mr Kilbride added that there were no other words to describe Brady apart from 'a murderous psychopath'.
