Ian Brady and Ashworth Hospital
May 25, 2007
Ian Brady was first admitted to Ashworth Hospital in 1985. When first sent there he had expressed ‘deep remorse’ for his crimes but this was to change. After a knife had been discovered taped under a sink in a washroom Brady was forcibly moved to a cell on Lawrence Ward of the hospital. Prior to this he had been refused the right to donate one of his kidneys. According to Colin Wilson “”it was because of this attempt to express remorse was thrown back in his face that he began to contemplate suicide”. In Oct. 1999 he went on hunger strike and is still being tube fed to this day.
“On 30 September 1999, Ian Brady was transferred to another ward. He took objection both to the transfer and to the manner in which it was effected. In addition to making complaints to the police and through the National Health Service complaints procedure he went on hunger strike. At the same time he began a media campaign, writing repeatedly to the BBC and others and issuing information through his solicitor complaining about the way that he had been treated, giving details of his hunger strike and the manner in which he was affected.
Because of the substantial media interest which Ian Brady generated, the director of communications of Ashworth found it necessary to make 12 press releases between 30 September 1999 and 11 January 2000 answering inquiries for information. The release of the 2 October 1999 began by stating: “Ian Brady, a patient at Ashworth Hospital, has exercised his right to refuse permission for the hospital to disclose any clinical details about him”. On 29 October, it was announced that he had refused food for a total of 30 days and that a program of “refeeding” had been introduced, which involved force feeding by means of a nasogastric tube.
On 2 February 2000, Ian Brady obtained permission to apply for judicial review, in order to challenge the continuing decision to force feed him. The hearing was held in private but, due to the public interest in the case, Maurice Kay J delivered his judgment in open court: see R (Brady) v Ashworth Hospital Authority[2000] Lloyd’s Med R 355; (2001) 58 BMLR 173. Maurice Kay J ruled that force feeding was lawful since it was reasonably administered as part of the medical treatment given for the mental disorder from which Ian Brady was suffering. By virtue of section 63 of the 1983 Act consent was not needed for such treatment. The judgment set out in detail particulars of Ian Brady’s clinical history which related to his decision.” ( taken from the website of the House of Lords).
In Sept. 1999 a telephone call from Dirty Harry’s bar in Amsterdam triggered an inquiry into the running of Ashworth Hospital. The call had come from Stephen Daggett a convicted paedophile who had absconded from Ashworth while on day release. He claimed that pornography was freely available as were drugs. As a result The Fallon Inquiry was set up and in it’s final report the hospital was roundly condemned.
While there is little reason to believe that Brady is mad his mental health has diminished since going on hunger strike. He recently (2006) wrote to Winnie Johnson the mother of Keith Bennett a rambling letter complaining of his treatment at the hospital.
A review of the latest book on the moors murders may be found here.
November 12, 2008 at 10:58 pm
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October 9, 2009 at 11:16 pm
I am a lawyer and would like to visit Ian. Since reading about him I gather he has had no visitors for a very long time, surely if this is the case it is in breach of the Human Rights Act, I would very much like to see him.
Please reply.
Teresa Andrew
July 26, 2010 at 11:46 pm
Hi, Teresa, I just read your post. Did you get to visit Ian Brady after all?
Do you know if it’s possible to contact him by letter?
Thanks in advance..
July 26, 2010 at 11:46 pm
Hi, Teresa, I just read your post. Did you get to visit Ian Brady after all?
Do you know if it’s possible to contact him by letter?
Thanks in advance..
Leticia
July 29, 2010 at 6:45 pm
hi
I have visited the hospital a number of times. I wouldnt recommend it.
Chris
July 31, 2010 at 1:53 pm
To Dr Cowley if that is what you are which i doubt, if this hospital is not good enough to visit how can it be good enough to live there? Ian Brady is not a freak show or an animal, the law of the jungle rules most people at any mention of him, what law rules you, money?
February 15, 2011 at 9:49 pm
Human rights my arse, this ogre tortured and murdered children, you have to be human to recieve human rights, should have been executed years ago.
September 18, 2011 at 3:40 pm
true cant he find keith bennett body let his mum berry her son
May 26, 2010 at 1:34 pm
burn all the evil bastards in ashworth hospital iccludind ian brady slowly.hope they all suffer very very painfully deaths .
October 9, 2010 at 4:04 pm
Chris have u wortten that book – face to face with brady. I met him years ago. Hes not that interesting!! Is your book any good?? Wheres jackie ogne who was on the other blog?? And carlos??
October 19, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Hi
My book is finished. It will be published in January. I have visted him a number of times, I would not say he is not interesting Clair.
Chris
December 3, 2010 at 8:23 pm
Hello,
I would like to offer Mr Brady a free holiday. A holiday of his choice in Scotland. The Holiday would be for 3days and 2nights in a hotel or cottage whatever he would prefer. In return he must promise to leave peacefully and return to Ashworth Hospital.
February 19, 2012 at 11:59 pm
i’d like to offer him a holiday aswell in a crematorium where i will stand there and turn the incinerator on while he’s alive in the coffin and i’ll listed to him scream while he burns alive
December 13, 2010 at 7:29 am
Ive beenwriting to Ian for a number of monthsnow Ifind him an interesting man and good friend Hes been a tower of strength throughout my Illness and Disability many thanks Ian please eat so you can respond to your treatment properly love samx.
December 24, 2010 at 8:25 pm
The book about to be published by Chris Cowley is at present subject to much disagreement of what has been printed as fact beware
January 12, 2011 at 10:56 pm
Hi. Well the book is now available, and I can assure you there is no disagreement as to it’s factual accuracy. As for visiting him, well, it is not easy, it took me two years of painstaking research and correspondence before I had the opportunity to undertake the first of my six interviews with him.
Chris Cowley
January 20, 2011 at 12:02 pm
Dr Chris Cowley, I’m a journalist looking to make contact with you for an interview regarding your book. Please email angela@mercurypress.co.uk if you receive this message. Thank you.
January 25, 2011 at 9:56 pm
I’m afraid there are a number of inaccuracies in your book, Dr Cowley. To give just one example: Pauline Reade was murdered on 12 July 1963, not 27 July as you state. You might also be interested in the comments about your book on the Keith Bennett website – I’m sure people would welcome your response.
January 26, 2011 at 6:25 pm
Two years of painstaking research!!!!!!!! Please be serious. If the nonsense about Brady in your book took you two years to research then there really is no hope. Practically everything he is quoted as saying in your book has been said before. If you had researched the subject properly you would have known that. I would agree with the above post, get yourself on the Searching for Keith Bennett website and read the reviews of your book on Amazon as well. Luckily, you cannot con everyone, despite trying to do just that.
Your book is worthless and I cannot believe you got away with that totally deceptive cover.
March 22, 2011 at 3:39 pm
Ian Brady and Myra Hindly were two very disturbed young people who I feel had deep anger and sorrow inside them and grudges against those who had hurt them in their younger years.
These unresolved issues triggered their desire to be apart from society but also their mutual need for security from eachother.
Two lost souls who turned their anger towards those more vulnerable than themselves.
An angry man with dangerous and strange fetishes. Ian Brady had to destroy others as it was the only way he could find pleasure in his sad and bleak world.
Both of them a product of possible genetic abnormalities, a crude slant on the permissivness of the 1960s and an unsettled childhood.
March 22, 2011 at 8:42 pm
A couple of points:
the book is ‘cold’, well, of course it is, it is a book about the psychology of recreational murder, serial killing, the weaknesses of psychological profiling etc (not just related to the Brady case, I cover a number of other case studies in order to develop themes but some people seem to have ignored all of that and just leapt straight to the Brady interviews and quotes in the second part of the book, I wonder what they expected to find).
The book is too ‘academic’. Well, I’m sorry, I am a forensic psychologist, did you expect a happy ending? I don’t think so. I tried to make the book as readable as I could, not just for the psychology students I work with, but for any reader interested in the topic and the majority of people who have actually read the whole book seem to agree with this.
As for the grief tourists, well, I am not in the business of trumpeting moral judgements, that is not my place, I just report objective facts from my interviews and correspondence with Brady. What did people expect? me tearing my hair out, beating my bloody fists against the wailing wall? Or perhaps descriptions of Brady in comparable extremis? Well, that is not going to happen. Remorse and compassion do not exist in Brady’s world. It is colder than ice, less than zero.
I conducted my research and I reported my conclusions as scientifically as I possibly could. Yes it IS cold,it is a tragedy, and anyone who has actually read the book properly will see that. How could it not be when I was interacting with someone like Brady? What I say in the book is the truth. Read it if you are so inclined(it does everything it says on the cover), or not. In some cases it might be probably better if you do not because psychologically it is a disturbing scenario.
Best wishes
Dr CKC
p.s. Minoes, I have not looked at the Keith Bennett website yet because I was told it was just a refueling station for grief tourism. I have no need to read a lot of ranting about my research, I am happy with the positive responses my work has generated in serious forums. Likewise I have not read the ridiculous amazon ‘reviews’ from dissapointed readers hoping for gruesome details about the moors murders. It is not that type of book.
I was told that one such reviewer actually admitted IN his review that he had not actually read the book! Its just nonsense.
Life is too short
March 10, 2012 at 10:11 am
Dear Dr Chris Cowley, please could you contact me direct, I have info you would be interested in , and evidence that you would interest you even more with regards to your book and a certain person, This is personal and I wouldnt want to add this to here, its about our research a letter we have from this person , and facts that have not been looked into by anyone but ourselves. Physical evidence .
March 30, 2011 at 6:04 pm
You are a liar,Dr Cowley! You are also a very arrogant and pompous individual who is so far up himself it is a wonder you have not disappeared. You have read the reviews on Amazon AND YOU HAVE REPLIED TO THEM. One in psrticular, with a thank you message from you, from a foul mouthed reviewer who must have been as drunk on alcohol as you are on your ego. You have also been on the Keith Bennett website to publicise your book and left without making any other comment whatsoever. How dare you say it is a place for ‘Grief tourism.’ You unfeeling jerk!
Your book is not too academic, do not try fool yourself or anybody else. It is written by a very weird man who had one aim, to make money from Brady and the suffering caused by Brady. Not only that but in such a way as to show you as the disgrace to your profession that you really are.
You could keep a decent psychologist busy for months trying to sort out your own thoughts and lies about what you have said and done, either on the web or in your pity for Brady and subsequent pityful garbage excuse for a book.
You got one thing right…life is too short. Life was too short for the victims of Brady and with people like you around to try and get into his head I am not surprised he took you in and spit you out again. You went to visit him with no clue at all and you left with no clue at all. You remain clueless about his crimes and the pain he caused to so many others. I cannot believe you are let free to lecture to other people about your profession. What hope is there? I would suggest there is none at all with the likes of you in such a position.
I repeat, YOU ARE A LIAR AND A TOTAL JERK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
March 30, 2011 at 8:26 pm
I am actually quite concerned for you, Dr Cowley, since you seem to be suffering from a quite severe sort of amnesia. You DID visit the Keith Bennett website to post a single publicising your book, as Ab says, and you DID read the posts on Amazon. Why deny it? It’s completely baffling.
None of the readers who reviewed your book were hoping for gruesome details about Brady’s crimes; they simply took issue with a number of points in your writing. A wise author, and one who wishes to learn more about their craft, should always listen to readers’ views – and if they are not in your favour, then sniping about their motivation is never advisable. A little humility wouldn’t go amiss.
But ultimately, I think Ab has said all that needs to be said really, in response. Although I disagree with him on you getting only one thing right in your post here; you got two things right – that life is too short (and how you could fail to see the poignancy of that comment in light of the ‘work’ you’ve done amazes me again), but you were also right when you said we might be better off not reading your book.
And on that issue alone, I couldn’t agree with you more.
September 20, 2011 at 5:59 pm
Ummmm…so what was the consensus on writing to him, then? Do you just address it to the hospital c/o Ian Brady?
October 5, 2011 at 11:47 pm
yes Rebecca. Just send it to Ian Brady, Ashworth Hospital, Liverpool. He might reply, the man is bored to tears in there, but please, please be careful (for a number of reasons).
Best wishes
Chris
(Dr CK Cowley)
October 6, 2011 at 7:30 am
Be careful why? I’m 5000 miles away, what is he going to do? I just want to help him.
October 16, 2011 at 8:51 pm
i think ian brady should be allowed to starve himself to death and anyone else for that matter who committe such evil crimes
October 19, 2011 at 7:19 pm
I presume you do not have children or even brothers and sisters, Rebecca. That must be the case if your intention is to try and help someone like Brady.
If you do have any of the above may I suggest you have a good look at them and give thanks that they never crossed the path of someone like Brady, as the other victims did.
I am sure your sympathy would be better directed at someone that deserves it.
October 20, 2011 at 5:59 am
Actually, yeah. I have a 3 year old son, 2 brothers and 2 sisters. And I did write to Ian, and you know what? I know what he did, I know he has no remorse, but he’s a very nice man. He was very polite to me and I intend to keep writing to him and doing whatever I can to get him out of that place so he can do what he wishes with his life; end it.
December 9, 2011 at 10:25 pm
How the fuck have you got children you absolute RETARD!!!! Fuming how would you feel if he had sex with you’re children! Then killed them. I hope social services find out who you are and take you’re children off you you absolute abomination. Writing to someone who is locked in a mental health hospital because he killed and had sex with children wow you sad Human being!!!! I feel really sorry for your children and would not trust someone that wants to be in contact with such a man to have children. Totally disgusted that there are people like you out there! Are you for real!!!!!!
October 20, 2011 at 7:40 pm
He can end his life whenever he wants to, but he does not want to. He his happy knowing he has ended the life of innocent children and he can rely on people like you for sympathy despite what he is guilty of.
October 21, 2011 at 5:19 am
Seriously? No, he can’t. Not the way he wants to end it. They’re force feeding him to keep him alive, so he can’t starve himself to death. He doesn’t want my sympathy nor anyone else’s, he just wants to be set free from the world he despises so much.
October 21, 2011 at 5:43 am
Sorry Rebecca, but you, along with so many others, have fallen for his self-sympathy act. He knows exactly what he is doing and he knows it impresses people like you.
He is a coward and a liar and always will be. He once told me his own mother was bed-ridden and practically blind but I knew the person who delivered her meals and she was the opposite of how he described her. It will be even easier to lie about himself with all that patient confidentiality.
He is getting all the nutrients he needs and it is better for him than the way he ate when he had the choice. I know as fact that his health improved at the time of his ‘Forced-feeding.’ If he wanted to leave this world so much he could do it, there is always a way.
He will welcome you into his world……I prefer the real one.
October 21, 2011 at 5:54 am
I will also add in reply to your comments about ‘Knowing what he did, showing no remorse and being a very nice man.’ I presume you must then know about the on-going search for one of his victims. A search that he will not help with but is happy to leave the victims family in a state of deep pain and despair.
He will not talk to the police about it but he will write to the likes of you and others about his own ‘Suffering.’
What a ‘Nice man.’
October 21, 2011 at 6:04 am
Yeah, I’m aware they’re still looking for Keith Bennett. Pretty sure they essentially called it off in July 2009, when he refused to help again. He says he doesn’t know where the body is. I doubt he does, it was always Myra with whom this kind of information stuck, Ian didn’t care enough to remember.
He’s never complained about his “suffering” to me. He didn’t talk about any of that. And Jesus Christ, why the hell are you talking about nutrients? He’s not asking for the hospital to serve him better food, he’s asking them to not serve him at all. “The way he ate when he had the choice”? The last time he had a choice in eating, he choice not to. ON PURPOSE.
Yes, I’m sure he could manage to find some relatively sharp object and take it to his throat, but that’s not how he wants to go. Starvation is the most important to him because of how painful it will be.
Since you and everyone else think he’s a waste to society anyway, do you want to tell me why you really give a shit if he’s allowed to kill himself or not?
October 21, 2011 at 7:00 am
‘Ian didn’t care enough.’ Obviously you don’t either. You really do not have a clue about what has gone on.
October 21, 2011 at 8:05 am
Trust me, I’m informed. There’s postit notes all over my computer about his human rights appeals and the dates of everything that’s every happened. I’m not going to try and make him into someone that he’s not. I’ve never said he’s a good person, ever. All I’ve said is that he deserves the right to die.
October 21, 2011 at 6:44 pm
It is strange how many of the people that write to Brady get very uppity and rude when thay realise they are just another person in a long list of people that do or have written to him and are used by him.
A lot of what has happened and his antics have not been made public and many of his claims are nothing but lies. I know this to be true. I will give you a couple more instances before I finish. A very senior police officer went to see him about some complaints he had made. Brady agreed to see him and said he had no real complaints. A day later, he wrote to the Chief Constable complaining again! He wrote to a newspaper about his treatment and his ‘Illnesses’ at one stage and when this was checked with doctors at the hospital it turned out to be, surprise surprise, a load of lies and at that stage he had never been healthier.
Anyway, carry on with your obsession and fight for his rights and falling for his lies and deception. Normal people would think of the innocent victims first and be sickened by what he and Hindley did.
December 9, 2011 at 11:04 pm
You’re an absolute disgrace!
You did say he was “a very nice man and polite” get a GRIP!!!
You must lead a very sad life postet notes all over your computer do you have a mental health problem???
You don’t even know him!!
PUKE!
December 9, 2011 at 11:06 pm
This is @Rebecca
December 10, 2011 at 5:03 am
Wowwww. Unable to handle a difference of opinion, much?
Also, if you haven’t heard yet, they’ve approved the decision to give him a mental health review and let him transfer to a prison to end his life as he wishes.
Guess not everyone is as narrow-minded as you.
December 10, 2011 at 8:55 pm
Do you really believe Brady wants to go to prison to end his life? He wants to get out of Ashworth to a medical wing somewhere else because he does not like Ashworth and the poor suffering staff there are totally sick and tired of the moaning, whinging child killer.
He wants a softer regime where he can continue to abuse the system and the care he gets from medical staff. He will then keep quiet for a while while he settles in and hopes people forget all about his wanting to die crap. Then he will be back to normal and and continue his pathetic lies and sniping at everybody and everything he can think of.
At the same time he will continue to take in all the empty headed numpties that write to him and sympathise with him.
WAKE UP!
November 8, 2011 at 3:08 pm
please i need to talk to dr chris crowley about an important issue / lead which has been missed . my email is below ,, VERY IMPORTANT . its an issue thats foing to the lawyer of of one of the victims family and involves what the polce seem to hve missed on and what you and others have either not wrote or have missed . thanks Erica Greogory
November 20, 2011 at 10:19 pm
Hi Erica
I will help in any way i can. But I need your e-mail address.
Dr CKC
March 10, 2012 at 10:14 am
you got in touch thanks , its paul.gregory30@btopenworld.com
Ive just got through to recieve this message, what we have is very important and I feel you can help us and we you.
April 25, 2012 at 3:25 pm
Dr. Crowley,
I am a training journalist and currently working on research regarding Ian Brady and the public appeal that will take place. I would be grateful if you could please get in touch as your professional help would contribute greatly. My email is akades@uclan.ac.uk
Also, anyone that has any information on Ian and the case, please get in touch no matter how insignificant you think the information might be.
Thank you
November 8, 2011 at 3:09 pm
This is an important issue we believe could lead to a closure. thanks
November 9, 2011 at 7:20 pm
I suggest you get in touch with Greater Manchester Police. They are the people to contact.
February 20, 2012 at 1:42 pm
I am 16 and have an interest in serial killers, I would like to vist Ian Brady or write him a letter, I have the address for Ashworth Hospital but I’m not sure if it’s correct, and I’m not sure if we will be allowed to exchange letters because of my age. Could somebody help me with this and email me what you think?
martyboy3600@googlemail.com
March 11, 2012 at 7:04 am
Hi a message for Dr Chris Cowley I responsded to you reply 20th November for some reason didnt get an email saying you had, my email is paul.gregory30@btopenworld.com. I have some very important issues many have issed and need to talk to you. thanks
April 8, 2012 at 2:31 pm
Anybody who wishes to know or heip Brady is sick. He should have been put down years ago.
April 9, 2012 at 4:51 am
Wow Rebecca – so he’s a really nice child rapist and killer? So glad that you haven’t been ‘sucked in’ like the rest of the world into believing he’s a cold hearted murderer. I wonder if you would still feel the same way if it was your child he had killed? Would you still want everyone to bow to what Brady wants then? Why should the world show him any more consideration than he showed his victims? Those poor children didn’t get to choose how to die so why should Brady?
April 30, 2012 at 8:52 am
I’m interested in writing letters to Ian but I have questions about how I should doing this, my email is metalfanmartin1995@googlemail.com
Thanks