Ian Brady's cremation and ashes locations (Southport and Irish Sea)

The Moors Murderers Myra Hindley and Ian Brady tortured and murdered five children in and around Manchester between 1963 and 1965. When Brady died of aged 79 the High Court ruled that his body should not be disposed of in the way that he was said to have wanted (I read he wanted his ashes to buried on Saddleworth Moor where he buried some of the children.) Instead he was cremated at Southport Crematorium and his ashes taken to Liverpool Marina and deposited at sea. Here I am at both locations.

Though Ian Brady is one of the most instantly recognised English murderers he born in the Gorbals area of Glasgow and was called Ian Duncan Stewart. His mum was an unmarried tea room waitress but his dad’s identity isn’t known. His mum said his dad was a journalist working for a Glasgow newspaper (who died three months before his birth.) His mum was forced to pass care of her son to a local couple who already had four children though she continued to visit him.

Brady was diagnosed as a psychopath in 1985 aged 47 and confined in the high-security Ashworth High Security Hospital ten miles north east of Liverpool centre. Here he was called Ian Stewart-Brady. He said he never wanted to be released from prison and repeatedly asked to be allowed to die. He had been on an intermittent hunger strike for almost 20 years before his death, often removing his feeding tube.

He died of heart failure at 6.02pm on Monday 15^th May 2017 at Ashworth hospital having served 51 years. He never showed remorse for his crimes. Myra Hindley had died in prison fifteen years earlier of respiratory failure aged 60.

The high court ruled Brady’s body did not cause "offence and distress" to his victim’s families and deemed there would be no funeral. At 9m on 25^th October council officials collected his body from Royal Liverpool Hospital's mortuary. Under police escort the corpse was driven to Southport Crematorium where the incineration began at 10pm. There were no music, prayers or flowers. His ashes were placed in a weighted biodegradable urn and then driven to Marina’s Wharf at Liverpool Marina. From Marina’s Wharf council officials were taken out to sea at 2:30am. They threw the urn overboard into the Irish Sea and - as it was weighed - it sank.

The way out of the marina...

The view out to the Irish Sea...