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It was reported earlier today that the infamous Moors Murderer was near death.

Now it's been confirmed that the killer has died aged 79 at Ashworth Hospital in Merseyside.

The Glasgow-born criminal had been ill for a long time and spent 15 years on hunger strike, refusing to eat.

However, since he was under psychiatric care, he was unable under law to refuse food and was force-fed by the authorities.

The death means Brady will never reveal where the body of Keith Bennett, his last unrecovered victim, is buried.

Born on January 2 1938, Brady grew up without his father and had only occasional contact with his mother.

Raised by a foster family, he showed an early inclination to crime and had twice appeared before a juvenile court by age 15.

Yet it wasn't until he was 25 that Brady and his partner in crime, Myra Hindley, took the life of their first victim, 16-year-old Pauline Reade.

(Image: GETTY)

They'd prowled the streets of Manchester looking for a victim and, happening upon Reade – who was known to Hindley – they'd asked for her help.

Telling her they'd lose an expensive glove, Reade agreed to join them searching for it, but on Saddleworth Moor she was sexually assaulted and murdered.

After killing her on July 12, 1963, they waited four months to kill their next victim, John Kilbride, who vanished on November 23, 1963, and could not be found.

Then Keith Bennett disappeared on June 16, 1964, being sexually assaulted and strangled by Brady after he was duped with the same story used on Reade.

(Image: GETTY)

On Boxing Day, 1964, 10-year-old Lesley Ann Downey was murdered after Brady and Hindley spotted her unaccompanied at a funfair and lured her to their car.

Inside their home, she was undressed, gagged and forced to pose for photographs before being raped and strangled, and then buried in a shallow grave.

Finally on October 6, 1965, Brady murdered 17-year-old Edward Evans, beating him with an axe after luring him to him to his Chesire home.

The killing was his downfall, as it was witnessed by Hindley's brother-in-law, whose wife – Hindley's sister – insisted they call the police.