Church helps Hindley to die 'at peace with God'

Christina White reports on the mixed response to childkiller's death THE PEOPLE of St James's parish, Hattersley in Hyde said prayers for the dead last Sunday. Child-killer, Myra Hindley, 60, who died on Friday evening was not mentioned in their petitions.
The district of Southern Manchester where Hindley and Ian Brady lived and murdered five children, burying their bodies on Saddleworth moor, has not forgotten or forgiven.
Parish priest Fr Paul Hughes said there was a sense of relief that she died in custody. "I didn't mention Hindley or the children at Mass on Sunday. I thought it would be too upsetting. Nobody mentioned her to me last weekend, but my general impression was a feeling of relief that she died in custody, people felt that was Myra Hindley died of bronchial pneumonia at the West Suffolk Hospital after a long illness. She died a Catholic. Hindley converted to Catholicism at 15 and returned to her faith in later life, with support from the Catholic peer and lifelong prison reformer the late Lord Longford.
Newspaper reports on Sunday stated that Fr Paul Mercer assistant priest at St Felix, Bury St Edmunds and the Catholic chaplain to the hospital had administered the last rites last Thursday. Speaking to The Catholic Herald this week he said he was bound by "confidentiality".
"All I can say is that I didn't know the woman. In these circumstances it would be inappropriate for me to say anything." Fr Mercer said he had his own "thoughts and feelings" for the children murdered. "That is private. I'd rather say nothing," he said.
Fr Mike Teader, parish priest at St Felix, Haverhill and the Catholic Chaplain to Highpoint prison, where Hindley was incarcerated, was with her when she died on Friday. In a statement to press he said she died a "peaceful death". Arrangements are now under way for the funeral, likely to be held at the Cambridge Crematorium next week. At her request the service will be taken by Fr Teader. It is believed she asked him to dispose of her ashes "at his discretion" in a quiet and peaceful place. She asked for Albinoni's Adagio to be played.
Hindley was jailed for life in 1966 with Ian Brady after being found guilty of the murder of Lesley Ann Downey, 10, and Edward Evans, 17. Brady was also convicted of the murder of 12 year old John Kilbride and Hindley was found to have been an accessory. In 1987 the pair confessed to the murders of Pauline Reade, 16, and Keith Bennett, 12, whose body has never been found.
Hindley's repeated requests for release were turned down by a succession of Home Secretaries but the Moors murderer had her champions. Among them Lord Longford and the former Catholic Herald editor Peter Stanford, who met her on a number of occasions. Both men believed that she was a reformed character. Lord Longford famously referred to her as a "deeply religious woman". Public opinion was less charitable.
The memory of the murders will continue to haunt Hatter sley. Fr Hughes said the community found it difficult to draw a line under the events until the body of Keith Bennett is found. "I'm sure finding Keith's body would help his mother and his family," said Fr Hughes. "The people of Hattersley are good, kind people and they have been tainted by this. It is time for the community to move on".
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