UK's 'most evil' serial killer is fighting for right to die
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This photo released Thursday, March 17, 2005, by the California Department of Corrections shows Scott Peterson during the intake process at San Quentin Prison in San Quentin, Calif. Judge Alfred A. Delucchi on Wednesday accepted the jury's recommendation that Peterson be sentenced to death, calling the killing of Laci Peterson and her fetus "cruel, uncaring, heartless and callous." (AP Photo/California Department of Correction) (AP)
In the mid-'60s, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley sexually tortured and murdered five children ages 10 to 16 in what came to be known as the Moors Murders in England.
Hindley died behind bars at age 60 in 2002, and now the 79-year-old Brady wants to do the same. Brady is in poor health, and he's fighting to be removed from a secure hospital and sent to a prison in his native Scotland.
As the Guardian explains, Scottish prisons don't force-feed inmates, and Brady wants to be allowed to refuse food and die. The hospital where he's being held says Brady has chronic mental illness and requires continued care, including oxygen, and thus shouldn't be transferred.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He lost a legal fight on the matter in 2013, and he just lost another this week. The latest decision revolved around a legal technicality on who can represent him—the BBC has the particulars, but the upshot is that Brady's longtime attorney will not be allowed to do so.
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It was unclear what the next steps in the case would be. The Telegraph, meanwhile, reveals another new tidbit: When Margaret Thatcher was prime minister, she was informed that Hindley might be considered for release in 1995 and Brady in 2005.
At a time when capital punishment was being hotly debated, she told her Home Secretary that wouldn't do. "I do not think that either of these prisoners should ever be released from custody," she wrote.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Their crime was the most hideous and evil in modern times." The pair were convicted of three murders and confessed to two others in prison. (A numbers guy thinks his algorithm can help police spot serial killers.)
This article originally appeared on Newser: UK's 'Most Evil' Serial Killer Is Fighting for Right to Die