EDWARD EVANS MOORS MURDERS BRADY HINDLEY
July 24, 2009
Edward Evans was the last and least remembered victim of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. Of the child victims he was the oldest and at 17 hardly a child as we would understand it today. We know nothing , or next to nothing about him or his family. The only reference I can find to him on the Internet is this site dedicated to the graves of famous people.…..and he isn’t even famous ! Quite a few people have left virtual flowers on this virtual grave of his but I suspect these are the same sort people who have endless ‘friend’s on facebook and such like. There is something very sad or worse than sad about all this. It’s almost as if he might never have existed if it hadn’t been for Brady and Hindley.
The night he died they picked him up late in some train station. A brief encounter. There is something romantic and yet depressing about an English railway station at night. I’ve always liked them….that closing scene in Cathy Come Home . The good old days when dirt and grit mingled in the air as steam engines shunted in the background. Oh yes , I’ve always had a soft spot for the British and their trains. I remember as a child looking out the window of the Hollyhead train as it sped on it’s way to London and seeing young children with notebooks and biros looking up at the trains. I was fascinated by these young train spotters. Town after town and village after village and there they were…. so earnest , so serious with heads going up and next minute heads going down as they scribbled down the number of the train. I had no idea what they were doing but I wanted so much to be one of them. A night journey on the ferry from Dublin and then 6 hours on the Hollyhead train….a real adventure for a boy in those days and a fond memory. Of course it’s not the same today. Things were much better , more atmospheric , in those black and white days.
Britain in the 60′s. A brown ale and a BSA Bantam doing a ton up in Chelsea , or trying to. This is the England that Evans grew up in and this is the England he died in. Gone and forgotten -that England and Edward Evans. He was the last victim in one of the most celebrated crimes ever and still he never really managed to become famous. A failure in death as in life. If you’d seen him in the street back then you would have forgotten him in the time it took to pass him by. There is no moral to any of this. There’s no great hidden truth , no remarkable ‘what might have been’. He was a rent boy with no distinguishing features. Beyond that we know nothing.
No , he’s not famous and we rarely if ever hear of him but there IS something about him ….the fact that , like us , he’s so unremarkable and so easy to forget. He’s a bit like the unknown soldier but without the dramatic aspect. .. an Everyman but without the capital E. He would never have made it onto the property ladder if he had lived….His was , incredibly, a much more innocent age , a far less brutal time than ours in spite of everything that happened. He could never have guessed that 40 years after his death someone like me would be writing about him and that someone like you would be reading it. And what would he have made of it all ? And if we could bring him back , if we could sit him down in some railway station coffee bar for one more British Rail cup of tea what might he have to say of his killer Ian Brady ? Would he feel hate or pity . ? Would he curse him for his lost youth and life or see in Brady a fellow lost soul ?
When we hear the name John Reginald Christie we think of tea , a nice cup of tea before the hands go around the neck for the last time. With Brady it was wine , cheap German wine and then the axe and the blood . For me when I think of railway stations my mind goes back to Britain in the 60′s. Memories memories. The British have always produced the best ( most interesting ) murderers but their is nothing quite so pathetic as the British murder victim. “Don’t be a victim” isn’t that what we say today ! No , we don’t really like victims. That weakness they seem to posess is out of kilter with these modern times. We are uncomfortabe with those who allow themselves to become victims. Railway stations and blood , tea and wine , killers and victims , Edward and Ian – memories memories.
July 24, 2009 at 11:03 pm
Old Twit,
Your piece brought tears to the eyes, have you ever considered writing? You are excellent with words!
July 24, 2009 at 11:41 pm
Jackie ,
Thank you for your very kind comments. Yes , I have thought about it and was even ( years ago ) asked to write a book but the truth is that I’m rather lazy and before I could write in any serious way I’d have to go back to school or at least take an English course online or something like that. Also I’m rather fatalistic ( what’s the point , what’s the point) and have lost most of the ambition that I once had. …
But maybe , just maybe I’ll get around to writing about the Moors Murders. Or at least about how people react to those murders and Ian Brady in paticular….But as I say I’m lazy…
July 25, 2009 at 1:02 am
Hi there Twit,
You should write, definatly, after all you put alot of effort into this blog, and it’s a blog which many people enjoy!
There’s a pathos and wistfulness in your writing that’s very seductive and moving at times, a ‘what if’ feel redolent of books of the 19th century.
Think about it, you have a gift…
July 26, 2009 at 12:52 am
Since writing the above post I have come across this rather interesting piece in relation to Evans meeting Ian Brady…
http://www.g7uk.com/photo-video-blog/20080215-the-rembrandts-connection-with-the-moors-murders.shtml
July 26, 2009 at 2:21 am
Yes I have read that piece before, just the sort of pub I would expect Brady to frequent.
July 31, 2009 at 1:40 pm
I think this aritcle is the biggest pile of peurile self-aggrandising cr*p Ive ever read. Are you sure you’re not related to Ian Brady? How dare you speak of people you don’t even KNOW as though you were their autobiographer? What an arrogant prick you are. Jimmy Boyle was this country’s most wanted man for a long time yet rose out of “bloody criminality” to become an acclaimed artist. What have YOU done with your life that you think yourself so superior to another person??? Rent boy or not, Edward Evans did not DESERVE to be slaughtered. All the sycophants here who think you are sooooo good at writing should try reading the content, not just sit here being impressed with your mediocre vocabulary.
July 31, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Bo Red ,
The only point I was making is that Evans seems to have been airbrushed out of the public consciousness as if he were lesser or less deserving of compassion.
I was trying in my own way to redress that…
July 31, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Bo Red,
I think if you read more of this blog, and subsequently, more of my posts you will find I am anything BUT a sycophant, THANK-YOU!
I don’t agree with a lot of Twit’s views but that Evans piece was rather good.
August 7, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Such a beautiful and eloquently written piece, Mr Twit. I agree with Jackie, you have a gift with wordss
I’ve always wondered why poor Edward Evans has long been regarded as the least remembered of the victims. Hardly a child and yet, even in those days still not quite an adult. Maybe his death, although horrific did not quite hit the same levels of pathos as the deaths of those poor little children? Just a thought.
Oh, hello by the way!
August 7, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Hi again Lucy,
I think that was it, plus Smith was there so it wasen’t purely a Hindley/Brady murder with all the myths surrounding it; what happened was revealed as told by Smith, no more no less; some people need myths to keep up their interest.
There are some opinions regarding Evans that are very sad, for example he was almost an adult and maybe a rent boy, so it’s not as tragic, this echos the view, usually taken by men, that prostitues somehow deserve what happens to them as opposed to homely girls. This disgusting viewpoint was very alive during the Sutcliffe murders.
August 9, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Hi Jackie,
I *hate* the attitude that Evans’ death wasn’t as tragic as the others because of his age and possibly being a rent boy; I often wonder if Pauline Reade’s death is seen the same way because she was that bit older that the others too. But it makes no difference to her parents and family, just as it is for the family of any other murder victim, regardless of who they were: a death is still a death.
Ugh, I also hate the attitude that prostitutes “deserve” everything they get, including murder, and that you “can’t rape a prostitute”. What misogynistic *crap*, ‘scuse my French! It’s just *rubbish*! :¬( And yes, I do remember that belief being prevalent during the time of the Yorkshire Ripper – all that bollocks about women “asking for it” makes my skin crawl. :¬(
August 9, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Er…in other words, I agree with you, Jackie! *blushes*
August 9, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Hi there Louise,
Old Twit has a recording of the Sutcliffe story by the BBC, if you click on serial killers on the right, it is somewhere there; you can HEAR the condesention in the announcers voice because most of them were prostitues, It’s unbeleivable, and proves classism is truly alive and well.
August 7, 2009 at 11:10 pm
Red, Jackie and all,
I must concur with Bo Red, and what Twit said of Evans is both crass, but worse strikes of sneering nastiness: “A failure in life as well as death”, Twit says of Smith and it’s really akin to spitting on poor Edward’s grave.
It’s stupid to write a 17 off as a failure, but more disgusting to uphold Brady as a “working class hero” (see the Brady Twit blog).
As you said on the other Brady blog Jackie, this repulsive and utterly sick idea is of course based on Twit’s worldview that infamy equates to success; and so we have Brady as a success (as the will-to-power predator) and Evans as the poor ‘weak’ victim and so therefore a failure!
I really think Twit, that you need urgent psychiatric help and trust me there is NOTHING at all clever about going against the grain on this one.
I think it’s quite possible that in your state of alienation (it’s written all over your face on your YouTube thing) that maybe you fantasise about serial killing yourself?
I hope I am wrong but I think this can be the only logic for your fawning over Brady. Are you dangerous do you think???
I can predict your response something typically 6th form and rubbish like “governments kill more people than Brady did,” blah blah, Yawn, Yawn.
Maybe Brady for president eh or how about Fred West maybe??? Oh sorry he’s dead, well that’s too bad.
Isn’t it soooo terrible that we just can’t agree with you, and how we all must be so brainwashed?
Twit you have such superior intellect and if only more people had your attitudes???
August 8, 2009 at 12:40 am
Hi Karlo,
As stated earlier I think maybe Twit meant failure in a wider sense, such as most of us are anonymous and toil on unknown; but if he did mean it in the literal sense then that is unforgivable.
I’m sorry I’m laughing now, Karlo your posts do this to me often, I now have visions in my head of Old Twit, Bundy style, creeping around Dublin with a Crowbar; although maybe that wouldn’t be Twits’ style, maybe more of a Neilson type, or god forbid Dahmer!!
Twits’ been silent for ages now, but I see he has posted elsewhere here, so he IS around, the youtube thingy maybe was being ironic, if not then it is a strange thing to do.
Maybe, just maybe, he is writing a ‘killer’ thesis on Brady as we type, then reveal it in all it’s glory, we realise we have been so very wrong about Brady, as twits searing brilliance pierces our skulls we can only curse our ignorance.. or maybe NOT!
August 12, 2009 at 12:00 pm
I hate reading people who nostalgically look back on events as horrific as the moors murders and taint my memory of that harrowing epoch with their self-indulgent, conceited ‘wisdom’ and misplaced quaintness. Who are you to judge whether that boy was a success? he was 17.
‘there is nothing quite so pathetic as the British murder victim. “Don’t be a victim” isn’t that what we say today’ – what? Your words betray you.
‘we don’t really like victims.’ you continue. ‘That weakness they seem to possess is out of kilter with these modern times. We are uncomfortable with those who allow themselves to become victims.’
Actually its you that have made these judgements not ‘US.’ Be careful who you speak for, you are not the zeitgeist. You do not speak for the people, you express your views and your views only. Thankfully. Edward Evans didnt ask to be hacked to death with an axe. No more then I wished to read your solipsistic and sophomoric ravings. Luckily I can just click the back button, Edward Evans wasnt granted such choice.
Do us all a favour twit. Stop writing and leave thinking to those with brains.
August 12, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Ha-Ha!!
Brilliant!!
well said whoever you are who made that last post.
its such a pernicous and fascistic idea that victims should be percieved as failures, and being in the wrong place at the wrong time doesnt make one a failure, whereas Brady and Hindley had failure written all over them.
I can’t add anything else to what you say, so i won’t!!
August 13, 2009 at 12:36 am
For over 40 years I have been reading everything I could find of the Moors Murders and in all that time I have never , I repeat never come across anything about Evans. Even on the internet where you might reasonably expect to find just about anything there is nothing on Edward Evans. This is not normal.
When I decided to write something about him I was faced with the fact that there are no know facts , good bad or indifferent about the man to be found anywhere. Millions of people on the internet who have an opinion about everything under the sun seem to have no opinion when it comes to Evans…
Books , newpapers , TV and the WWW have forgotten him or just ignored him. To the best of my knowledge this short blog post that I published is the only thing to be written on Evans in 40 years.
I have never said the Evans was a failure or anything of that nature but was simply speculating on why so many millions of people could behave as if he almost had never existed. People are more than comfortable writing of the victims of Brady and Hindley but obiously not so comfortable when it comes to Evans. This is not just some oversight or accident….
The fact that so many could so misunderstand what I was trying to say in relation to Evans is interesting in itself.
August 13, 2009 at 2:33 am
Twit,
I get ya! Read my post on this further up. You weren’t saying that YOU perceive Evans as a failure yourself, but others do; it’s ‘uncomfortable’ to be seen as weak and have things happen, especially to men; hence no mention of Evans, the others were children and a young women, that;s alright, they need protecting anyway, but a young man…
I also think this is why male victims of SK’S like Dahmer and nilson are rarely mentioned in the same salacious way as female victims by the press.
Mistakes are made in the literal reading of this piece.
August 13, 2009 at 12:35 pm
On matters like this these things need to be laid out explicitly. the fact that your polemic has had to of been restated shows the weakness of your original piece. sorry. Whilst I agree with your subsequent entry, its contents were’nt clearly delivered in your first article, largely due to your colloquial and at times sarcastic style.
August 27, 2009 at 8:24 pm
Yes,
I concur with the last point and there was certainly a bit of back-peddling going on by the Twit.
It’s a bit like when a politician says something tasteless or offensive and generally makes a faux-pa and then spouts the old cliché that the comments were ‘misconstrued’ or ‘taken out of context’ blah blah bloody blah.
I think Mr Twit that there is a subtext going on here in your writings, which is that you see Brady as a kind of anti-hero and his victims are a sort of afterthought, if they are thoughts at all!
I have yet to read anything that you write that condemns the terrible suffering that Brady caused.
I suspect that you are a kind of snob in that you will go to any lengths to feel superior to the common mob as you probably see the anti-Brady hysteria as personifying.
If this is the case then it’s something that you can probably relate to Brady on, and it’s on quite a deep level.
Not all populist thoughts or feelings are bad or primitive or whatever negative attributes you want to place on them.
I posit that it isn’t so much Brady who you care about but you can’t stand the mob mentality as you see it.
December 9, 2011 at 12:31 pm
Even though the original blog was well written ( My opinion) there is something more to it other than remembering this young man from Mr Twit.
We should remember Edward Evans as a young man who’s life was taken away far too soon and not as Mr Twit describes him.
Just a question to Mr Twit. How many 17yr old people are a success?
Your assumption that he would have been a failure is quite disgraceful to his memory and his family.
As you say, people know nothing of the man so it must be an assumption.
Excellent writer Mr Twit but you got it wrong on this occasion.
Great subject, wrong context!
May 8, 2012 at 3:53 pm
READING ABOUT IAN BRADY AS A CHILD(HOW CRUEL HE WAS TO ANIMALS)AS AN ANIMAIL I FOUND IT VERY DISTRESSING ESPECIALLY THE BEHEADING OF A CAT (WOULD HAVE LOVED TO HAVE GIVEN HIM A TASTE OF HIS OWN MEDICINE)WHAT A WICKED AND EVIL MURDER TO HAVE KILLED PAULINE READE. THE SADDEST ONE WAS OF LESLEY ANNE DOWNEY (( WHO WOULD BE AROUND THE SAME AGE AS ME I HOPE THAT WINNIE JOHNSON WILL GET HER DEAREST WISH TO BE ABLE TO FIN\ALLY LAY KEITH TO REST