Editing Moors murders (section)

===Myra Hindley===
'''Myra Hindley''' was born in [[Crumpsall]] on 23 July 1942{{sfnp|Ritchie|1988|p=2|ps=none}}{{sfnp|Lee|2010|p=30|ps=none}} to parents Nellie and Bob Hindley, and raised in Gorton, then a working-class area of Manchester dominated by [[Victorian era|Victorian]] [[slum]] housing. Her father was an [[alcoholism|alcoholic]] who was frequently violent towards his wife and children. The family home was in poor condition, and Hindley was forced to sleep in a single bed next to her parents' double bed. Their living situation deteriorated further when Hindley's younger sister, Maureen, was born in August 1946. The following year, five-year-old Myra was sent to live nearby with her grandmother.{{sfnp|Staff|2007|pp=39–46|ps=none}}

Hindley's father had served with the [[Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom)|Parachute Regiment]] and was stationed in North Africa, Cyprus and Italy during the [[Second World War]].{{sfnp|Staff|2007|p=38|ps=none}} He had been known as a hard man while in the army and he expected his daughter to be equally tough; he taught her to fight and insisted that she stick up for herself. When Hindley was aged about eight, a local boy scratched her cheeks, drawing blood. She burst into tears and ran to her father, who threatened to "leather" her if she did not retaliate; Hindley found the boy and knocked him down with a series of punches. As she wrote later, "At eight years old I'd scored my first victory."{{sfnp|Staff|2007|pp=49–50|ps=none}} Malcolm MacCulloch, professor of [[forensic psychiatry]] at [[Cardiff University]], has written that Hindley's "relationship with her father brutalised her&nbsp;... She was not only used to violence in the home but rewarded for it outside. When this happens at a young age, it can distort a person's reaction to such situations for life."{{sfnp|Staff|2007|p=50|ps=none}}

In June 1957,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?scan=1&r=215255690:8947&d=bmd_1620111208 |title=FreeBMD: Deaths: June 1957|publisher=freebmd.org.uk |date=19 September 2001 |access-date=9 May 2021}}</ref> one of Hindley's closest friends, 13-year-old Michael Higgins, invited Hindley to go swimming with friends at a local disused reservoir, but she instead went out elsewhere with another friend. Higgins drowned in the reservoir; and Hindley{{mdashb}}a good swimmer{{mdashb}}was deeply upset and blamed herself. She took up a collection for a wreath; his funeral was held at [[Gorton Monastery|St Francis's Monastery]] in Gorton Lane.

The monastery where Hindley had been [[baptism|baptised]] a Catholic as an infant in 1942 had a lasting effect on her.{{sfnp|Ritchie|1988|p=7|ps=none}} Hindley's father had insisted she have a Catholic baptism; her mother agreed on the condition that she not be sent to a [[Catholic school]], believing that "all the monks taught was the [[Catechism#Catholic catechisms|catechism]]".{{sfnp|Staff|2007|p=36|ps=none}} Hindley was increasingly drawn to the [[Roman Catholic Church]] after she started at Ryder Brow [[secondary modern school|Secondary Modern]] and began taking instruction for formal reception into the Church soon after Higgins' funeral. She took the [[Confirmation in the Catholic Church|confirmation]] name of Veronica<!--Staff page 80 gives the name Therese--> and received her [[First Communion]] in November 1958.

Hindley's first job was as a junior clerk at a local electrical engineering firm. She ran errands, typed, made tea and was well liked enough that when she lost her first week's wage packet, the other women took up a collection to replace it.{{sfnp|Ritchie|1988|p=8|ps=none}} At 17, Hindley became engaged after a short courtship but called it off several months later after deciding the young man was immature and unable to provide her with the life she wanted.{{sfnp|Ritchie|1988|pp=12–13|ps=none}} She took weekly [[judo]] lessons at a local school but found partners reluctant to train with her as she was often slow to release her [[Chokehold|grip]]. Hindley took a job at Bratby and Hinchliffe, an engineering company in Gorton, but was dismissed for absenteeism after six months.{{sfnp|Ritchie|1988|p=14|ps=none}}