Editing Moors murders (section)

=== Trial ===
The 14-day trial began in a specially-prepared court room at Chester Assizes before Mr Justice [[Fenton Atkinson]], on 19 April 1966.<ref name="HindleyODNB"/> The dock was fitted with bulletproof glass to protect Brady and Hindley because it was feared that someone might try to kill them, such was the public outrage at the crimes.<ref name="Chron1">{{cite news|url=https://www.cheshire-live.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/how-chester-focus-nation-during-11204422|title=How Chester was the focus of the nation during Moors Murderers trial – Pt. 1|newspaper=[[Chester Chronicle]]|date=18 April 2016}}</ref> Other elaborate security precautions included a public address system costing £2,500 and £500 worth of telephone equipment.<ref name="Chron1"/> National and international journalists covering the trial booked up most of the city's hotel rooms.<ref name="Chron2">{{cite news|url=https://www.cheshire-live.co.uk/news/history/how-chester-chronicle-covered-infamous-11209509|title=How The Chester Chronicle covered the infamous Moors Murders trial – Pt. 2|newspaper=Chester Chronicle|date=19 April 2016}}</ref> Onlookers – some travelling for hours – would stand outside Chester Assizes every day during the trial.<ref name="Chron2"/>

Brady and Hindley were charged with murdering Evans, Downey and Kilbride.{{sfnp|Staff|2007|p=222|ps=none}} The [[Attorney General for England and Wales|Attorney General]], Sir [[Elwyn Jones, Baron Elwyn-Jones|Elwyn Jones]], led the prosecution, assisted by [[William Mars-Jones]].<ref name="HindleyODNB" /> Brady was defended by [[Emlyn Hooson]] QC, the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP),<ref>{{cite news |title=Boy tricked into seeing murder, moors trial Q.C. says |newspaper=The Times |publisher=Times Digital Archive |date=20 April 1966 |url=http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/viewArticle.arc?articleId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1966-04-20-16-001&pageId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1966-04-20-16 |access-date=16 September 2009 |first=Fiona |last=Hamilton |mode=cs2}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> and Hindley was defended by Godfrey Heilpern QC, [[recorder (judge)|recorder]] of [[Salford]] from 1964; both were experienced [[Queen's Counsel]].{{sfnp|Staff|2007|p=225|ps=none}}<ref>{{cite news |title=Mr Godfrey Heilpern |url=http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/374/527/35176649w16/purl=rc1_TTDA_0_CS237861029&dyn=15!xrn_2_0_CS237861029&hst_1?sw_aep=mclib |newspaper=The Times |publisher=Times Digital Archive |date=5 May 1973 |page=14 |issue=58774 |url-access=subscription|mode=cs2}}</ref>

Smith was the chief prosecution witness. Before the trial, the ''[[News of the World]]'' newspaper offered £1,000 to Smith for the rights to his story; the American ''[[People (magazine)|People]]'' magazine made a competing offer of £6,000 (equivalent to about £{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|1000|1966|r=-4}}|0}} and £{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|6000|1966|r=-4}}|0}} respectively in {{Inflation/year|UK}}).{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}} When Smith accepted the ''News of the World'' offer—its editors had promised additional future payments for [[Print syndication|syndication]] and [[serialisation]]—he agreed to be paid £15 weekly until the trial, and £1,000 in a lump sum if Brady and Hindley were convicted.{{sfnp|Bingham|2016|p=235}} During the trial, the judge and defence barristers repeatedly questioned Smith and his wife about the nature of the arrangement. At first, Smith refused to name the newspaper, risking [[contempt of court]]; when he eventually identified the ''News of the World'', Jones, as Attorney General, immediately promised an investigation.{{sfnp|Bingham|2016|p=237}} Comparing Smith's testimony with his initial statements to police, Atkinson—though describing the paper's actions as "gross interference with the course of justice"—concluded it was not "substantially affected" by the financial incentive. Jones decided not to charge the ''News of the World'' on similar grounds.{{sfnp|Bingham|2016|pp=230, 238}}

Both Brady and Hindley entered [[plea]]s of not guilty;<ref name="TimeNotGuilty">{{cite magazine |title=A Most Unusual Trial |url=http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/54033848 |access-date=5 September 2019 |magazine=Time Magazine |volume=87 |issue=17 |date=29 April 1966 |page=40 |mode=cs2 |via=EBSCOhost}}</ref> Brady testified for over eight hours, Hindley for six.{{sfnp|Topping|1989|p=38|ps=none}} Brady admitted to striking Evans with the [[axe]], but claimed that someone else had ''killed'' Evans, pointing to the pathologist's statement that his death had been "accelerated by strangulation"<!-- this needs further work; at least it needs to be explained that, in any event, it appears to have been Brady who strangled Evans anyway-->; Brady's "calm, undisguised arrogance did not endear him to the jury [and] neither did his pedantry", wrote Duncan Staff.{{sfnp|Staff|2007|pp=227–228|ps=none}} Hindley denied any knowledge that the photographs of Saddleworth Moor found by police had been taken near the graves of their victims.{{sfnp|Topping|1989|p=39|ps=none}}

The sixteen-minute tape recording<ref name="Times ears covered"/>{{efn|Brady made more than one copy of the tape recording;{{sfnp|Cowley|2011|p=70|ps=none}} the version played in court was sixteen minutes in length.<ref name="Times ears covered" />}} of Downey, on which the voices of Brady and Hindley were audible, was played in open court. Hindley admitted that her attitude towards Downey was "brusque and cruel", but claimed that was only because she was afraid that someone might hear the child's screams. Hindley claimed that when Downey was being undressed she herself was "downstairs"; when the pornographic photographs were taken she was "looking out the window"; and that when Downey was being strangled she "was running a bath".{{sfnp|Topping|1989|p=39|ps=none}}

On 6 May, after having deliberated for a little over two hours,<ref>{{cite news |title=Life sentences on couple in moors case |url=http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/695/969/71907494w16/purl=rc1_TTDA_0_CS17787559&dyn=3!xrn_3_0_CS17787559&hst_1?sw_aep=mclib |newspaper=The Times |publisher=Times Digital Archive |date=7 May 1966 |access-date=29 July 2009|mode=cs2|url-access=subscription}}</ref> the jury found Brady guilty of all three murders, and Hindley guilty of the murders of Downey and Evans. As the death penalty for murder [[Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965|had been abolished]] six months earlier, the judge passed the only sentence that the law now allowed for murder: [[life imprisonment]]. Brady was sentenced to three concurrent life sentences and Hindley was given two, plus a concurrent seven-year term for harbouring Brady in the knowledge that he had murdered Kilbride.<ref name="HindleyODNB" /> Brady was taken to [[HM Prison Durham]] and Hindley was sent to [[HM Prison Holloway]].{{sfnp|Topping|1989|p=39|ps=none}}

In his closing remarks, Mr Justice Atkinson described the murders as "truly horrible" and the accused as "two sadistic killers of the utmost depravity";{{sfnp|Carmichael|2003|p=2|ps=none}} he recommended they spend "a very long time" in prison before being considered for parole, but did not stipulate a [[tariff (criminal law)|tariff]]. Anyone sentenced to life imprisonment would be liable to spend the rest of his or her natural life in prison, but could be paroled on life licence by the Home Secretary on recommendation of the Parole Board.

He described Brady as "wicked beyond belief" and said he saw no reasonable possibility of reform and suitability for parole for him, though he did not think the same necessarily true of Hindley once "removed from [Brady's] influence".<ref>{{cite news |title=Obituary: Myra Hindley |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/452614.stm |work=BBC News |date=15 November 2002 |access-date=12 June 2007 |mode=cs2}}</ref> Throughout the trial Brady and Hindley "stuck rigidly to their strategy of lying",{{sfnp|Staff|2007|p=229|ps=none}} and Hindley was later described as "a quiet, controlled, impassive witness who lied remorselessly".<ref name="HindleyODNB" />