Hindley urged 'no resuscitation' in case of heart attack, inquest told

Published on Friday 24 January 2003 00:00

MYRA Hindley, the Moors Murderer, requested that she should not be resuscitated in case of cardiac arrest, an inquest into her death was told yesterday.

Hindley, who was Britain’s longest-serving female prisoner, died of pneumonia last November after suffering a number of health problems.

Michael Heath, a pathologist, told a jury at Highpoint prison, in Suffolk, that Hindley suffered from angina, osteoarthritis and breathing problems that meant she had to take 24 different medications.

He told the inquest that Hindley, who was a heavy smoker, died of bronchial pneumonia as a result of hypertension and coronary heart disease. Jurors ruled that she died of natural causes

Dr Claire Laroche, a consultant physician at West Suffolk Hospital, said Hindley had consented to a "do not resuscitate order", if she suffered a heart attack or stopped breathing, and had expressed the wish not to be treated in intensive care.

When Hindley’s condition deteriorated she repeatedly tried to tear off her oxygen mask. On the morning of her death she was given the last rites by a priest.

Hindley and her boyfriend, Ian Brady, were sentenced to life in prison in 1966 for the murders of ten-year-old Lesley Ann Downey and 17-year-old Edward Evans.

Brady was also found guilty of killing John Kilbride, 12, and Hindley of sheltering her lover after that crime. The pair confessed in 1987 to murdering Pauline Reade, 16, and Keith Bennett, 12.

The serial killings from July 1963 to October 1965 horrified Britain. Some of the victims were beaten, tortured and sexually abused before being killed and buried on desolate moorland at Saddleworth, West Yorkshire, earning their killers the nickname of the Moors Murderers.

Hindley always claimed that her role was to abduct the children, and that she did not take part in the killings or sex attacks. But her desire to be rehabilitated won her little sympathy with the public.

Brady, from Glasgow, who is now 64, remains in prison serving life.

At the close of the inquest, the coroner, Dr Peter Dean, called for the court to consider the families of the victims, saying: "The large amount of publicity generated by the death of Myra Hindley may have rekindled the grief of some of those families who lost loved ones in those dreadful crimes."

On 14 November, Hindley was given a continuous supply of morphine and by the evening she appeared to be less well.

The doctor said at 4:45am the following day, Hindley was refusing to keep her oxygen mask on, and by 6am had received the last rites from a priest.

She said: "Her condition had gradually deteriorated, she passed away peacefully at 4:55pm and I certified her dead at 4:58pm."

Dr Heath, who carried out the post-mortem, described Hindley as heavily built and 5ft 8ins tall. He said she suffered chronic emphysema and bronchitis caused by heavy smoking.