WARNING: Description of murder and crime scene investigation below.
History is littered with murder. No-one knows this better than this year’s adjudicator Ian Walker (pen name Jon Mason). He has taken the experiences of a long career in the West Yorkshire Police and created a series of novels about Brian Blake, a young officer at the start of his own career. Find out more here.
At his workshop, Ian shared with us the following formative experience from his involvement in the murder investigation into Ian Brady and Myra Hindley:
When I returned to Cleckheaton, the same station I was posted to as a cadet, I was asked by the sergeant if I had any hiking boots. I had. My instructions were to report to Huddersfield DHQ at 9am the next day. I asked where I was going. The reply, ‘You’ll find out when you get there.’
I was a passenger in the Divisional van/crew bus with 8 or 9 other officers. This was my first operational day after leaving training school. One officer I first met in 1963 when I was a cadet at Slaithwaite. A bit of a sarky joker kept referring to me as a cadet. I pointed out I had been appointed 8 months before and been to Pannal late because of appendicitis, and had left the preceding Friday. He said I was still a cadet; I’d no experience. Then he said, ‘You don’t know where we’re heading, do you?’ I agreed although I was beginning to get the picture. ‘We’re going to Saddleworth Moor looking for the bodies of kids murdered by Brady and Hindley. You won’t last two minutes.’ He Followed that by something along the lines of me crying and running home to mummy. And wearing a uniform doesn’t make you a copper.’
One of my other colleagues ended the conversation. ‘If he’s been in the job since March and left Pannal last Friday he’s earned the right to be here. Show him some respect and leave the lad alone.’
As we approached the scene there were plenty of uniformed officers preventing parking and keeping civilians off the moor – it was major crime scene as well as a cemetery. Keeping the moors clear was a 24-hour operation.
The crew bus pulled onto the verge and we decamped to be met by a sergeant who told us to follow him. The weather was dry. It was cold with an easterly wind. The winter of 1962-63 developed into the most severe since 1947.
The moors straddled the Pennines and were huge. The moor on our side, the southern side, of the A635 was busy. At this point we were descending from the high plateau, an area where there were lots of protruding rocks. A group of men in suits pouring over maps on a car bonnet, but mainly officers in small groups some on their knees with trowels, carefully scraping away the peat. Others, where the area between the rocks was larger were digging with spades – carefully. Yet others carrying large garden canes, driving them into the ground, pulling them out and sniffing the end before moving forwards in line and doing it again.
Several groups of officers in civvies, all carrying spades were crossing the A635 to the north where the peat was deeper and where, we were shortly to find out, the remains of ten-year-old Leslie Ann Downey were discovered. She had been the first one to be recovered.
We wove our way between the groups of officers to what was obviously an open shallow grave with the spoil stacked at the bottom end. A stiff breeze blowing off the moor carried a noticeable aroma. The sergeant stood upwind of the grave. ‘This is where the remains of 12-year-old John Kilbride were discovered a couple of months ago. The grave has been open to the elements since. Stand in a group below the spoil heap and take deep nasal breaths. You’re going to need the memory. And if you’re going to be sick, make sure it’s not in the grave.’ He made us do it again because we weren’t close enough to the spoil. Even after exposure to the weather on Saddleworth Moor for approximately two months the putrid stench hit like a sledgehammer. No-one was sick but several recoiled and were close. I was standing nearer the rear on the left side and it wasn’t as bad. But the stench clung like paint. An aroma you could never forget.
In case you’re wondering, the group clustered round the car are the bosses, they’re here from day-break to dusk, The children’s remains were discovered because Brady and Hindley kept a comprehensive photographic record of the grave sites. They are convinced there are others in this section of the moor; they’re trying to work out where. These rocks are important and why we’re here.’ We were all given a stout garden cane and told to stand in a straight line. ‘Push the cane vertically between your feet as far as you can; sometimes it will be a few inches, others several feet. Pull the cane out and sniff the end, and keep in line. When a body decomposes it liquifies and soaks into the surrounding soil or peat, if you are within a foot or so will know. If you get a positive the line will stop. Keep your position. Wave your arms or blow your whistles and wait for assistance. Should you come across anything protruding from the ground, do not touch, the same procedure applies, and keep in line. The chances are it will be a dead sheep. Everything found so far has been a sheep.’
He took us to an area about fifty yards away. Pointed out the direction we had to work towards. When we had finished, we would be allotted another search area. He left us to our own devices.
Shortly after noon a W.R.V.S. unit arrived with a mobile soup and drinks kitchen, courtesy of the Chief. It didn’t stop the bobbies from Manchester partaking although they were transported by coach to a nearby pub for a three-course meal inclusive of a single pint. (Under police regulations a constable may partake of alcoholic drink with the permission of a senior officer!)
We were dismissed at 3pm. All the ground had been covered with no result except the emotional impact on those involved. As we walked from the moor one of my colleagues put his hand on my shoulder. ‘Did you say you left Pannal last Friday? I agreed. ‘Well, if you can handle what we’ve had to do today you’ll be fine.’
Conversation on the way back to Huddersfield was almost non-existent. The occupants wrapped in their own emotions. The only one who cried was my verbal assailant; although many were close. I was nineteen years of age. Single with no children. I was pleased I was only going to be there for one day.
The remains of Pauline Reade were recovered about twenty years later, in the general area north of where Lesley Ann Downey was recovered. Keith Bennett is still out there.The search area was between 5 and 8 square miles.
The Workshop
Activity 1
Consider all the other people attending that day on the moors. Put yourself into the perspective of one of them. Write for 20-30 minutes.
Activity 2
Here are two further scenarios. Write about how you would respond.
- You are having a quiet cup of coffee in a coffee bar you haven’t been in before, when you hear two voices coming from a ventilation grill, one of whom you recognise. They are planning to murder your Boss, who you hate, and then you.
Describe the feelings running through your mind. It is a hoax? The voice you recognise as someone you don’t get on with, so? Describe your feelings. What is your reaction? And what action would you take? Remember, if you run away, you are still a target. You may have 30 minutes to live.
- You are late for work and decide to sneak in through the back door to avoid the Boss. Once inside the normally busy office is silent. You spy the Boss tied to his chair and gagged, head to one side and with what you assume is a bullet hole in his forehead and blood trickling towards his left ear. The remainder of the staff, including your fiancé(e), are locked in the storeroom. You should be getting married a week on Saturday, but with the death of the manager are they at risk? The premises next door are a well-known jewellery store, closed for the day because of a death in the family.
What can you do to distract the villains and rescue your fiancé(e) and his colleagues. Describe the scene and your thought processes, and the action you would take. You have 30 minutes, Have fun.
Ian Walker – July 2026
“crime-scene-murder-weapon.jpg” by r.nial.bradshaw is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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