The search for the remains of the Moors murders victim Keith Bennett has been called off, Greater Manchester Police said today.
The 12-year-old was killed in 1964 by Myra Hindley and Ian Brady, who were jailed for life in 1966 for a two-year reign of terror when they abducted, tortured and murdered five children, burying four of them in shallow graves on Saddleworth Moor near Manchester.
The bodies of two of the children were found on the moor in 1965 and that of 16-year-old Pauline Reade was discovered in 1987.
Greater Manchester Police said that searches based on the words and photographs of the notorious pair, known as the Moors Murderers, had failed to yield results.
Keith was the third of the Moors Murderers’ five child victims. He went missing on June 14th, 1964.
Greater Manchester Police said their search for the boy's grave would remain suspended unless Brady agreed to helped them find its location or there was a fresh scientific breakthrough.
"Sadly we have not found his body and we reluctantly have to say that for now we have exhausted all of the avenues available to us," said the head of the force's serious crime division, Detective Chief Superintendent Steve Heywood.
He appealed to Brady to cooperate and allow the boy's mother Winnie give her son a proper funeral after 45 years.
"He's got one chance, if he's got any humanity left, to come forward and give us substantial information in relation to the grave," he told BBC television.
Det Chief Supt Heywood, said that, although the search was over, the case would never be closed.
“As a force, there is nothing we would have liked more than to draw a close to this dark chapter, and we are very disappointed that we have not located Keith’s remains, but we will never close this case and remain open to any new lines of inquiry which may come about as a result of significant scientific advances or credible or actionable information.”
In 2003, police launched Operation Maida in an attempt to locate Keith’s body.
Their searches were based on information from Brady and Hindley, who died in 2002.
The police spokesman said: “The operation used information which was already in the public domain about what Hindley had said about where Keith’s body was buried along with photographs taken by Brady at the time.
“Brady had taken photographs of Hindley over the graves of the other victims. Detectives believe that if those areas could be located it would provide a credible search area.”
Scientists believed some of the boy's remains would be preserved, due to the nature of the moor soil.
Winnie Johnson, Keith's mother, said: "I am 76 in September and I just want Keith found.
"I will never give up as long as I have breath in my body — not just for me but for my family and all of those around me.
"What Brady's done and continues to do is just so cruel."
Agencies