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Evil Moors Murderer Ian Brady DIED from a seizure and was revived by medics against his express wishes.

The child killer’s heart stopped but was re-started with a defibrillator, the Sunday Mirror can reveal today.

Brady, 74, who has been campaigning for years for the right to starve himself to death, was said to be furious when he ­discovered what had happened.

Since the incident this summer, it has cost the taxpayer an estimated £100,000 to keep Brady locked up – part of the ­astonishing £7.3million bill to hold him in a secure hospital since 1985.

Brady was jailed for life in 1966 after he was found guilty of murdering three children with girlfriend Myra Hindley. The pair have also been blamed for two other child murders. Brady was moved to a secure hospital after he was ­diagnosed as mentally ill.

(Image: Sunday Mirror)

His trusted mental health advocate Jackie Powell told the Sunday Mirror last night: “He should be dead. They should have let him go.”

The actions by staff at Ashworth top security mental hospital in Merseyside went directly against written instructions understood to have been lodged by Brady that his life should not be saved if he ever lost consciousness. It is thought his wishes were disregarded because of his status as mentally ill, which he has always challenged.

Brady collapsed while being interviewed in July by a psychiatrist preparing for his appearance at a mental health tribunal.

He was planning to ­argue that he was sane and should be transferred to prison, where he could not legally be ­prevented from starving himself to death. He has been on hunger strike and force-fed by tube since 1999.

Revealing details of what happened when he had his seizure, Jackie, who has represented Brady for 14 years and has visited him more than 100 times, said: “He was in an interview room on the ward where he is held.

“He was answering questions from a psychiatrist appointed by the mental health tribunal board. His solicitor ­Richard Nicholas was in the room. Brady was seated at a table. He suddenly started having small convulsions.

“At first, they thought it was hiccups. Quickly, they grew more severe. ­Suddenly, he collapsed and went into a full seizure. He lost consciousness for several ­minutes.

“Help was called and several doctors and nurses rushed in. His heart stopped. He was dead. That should have been that. He had told the hospital years earlier he did not wish ever to be resuscitated. He put it in writing. They knew that, but still used a defibrillator.”

The fit broke two of Brady’s vertebrae. He was taken under armed guard to nearby Aintree Hospital. Brady, who also has a degenerative spine condition, ­returned to Ashworth two days later and Jackie visited him the next day.

“I had to see him in an interview room with an observation window,” she says. “He was in extreme pain. He told me he had fractured his T6 and T10 vertebrae. Doctors told him the fractures had been caused by the violence of the seizure.

“He does not recall the seizure and was furious that he had been resuscitated. This is the one thing he has always said he does not want.”

Jackie, 47, who last visited Brady six weeks ago, reveals that he has repeated an offer to take police to where 12-year-old victim Keith Bennett was buried on Saddleworth Moor... but only if the Greater Manchester force is not involved.

“He has reiterated that he will help find Keith’s body, but only on his terms,” she says. “He hates Greater Manchester Police. He says he will take any police officer from any other force in Britain to where Keith is buried.

“People say it’s impossible for him to remember exactly where that is. But I believe his mind has remained in a kind of time warp when it comes to his memories. He talks about landmarks... an old can and features of the moor.”

The cancelled hearing to decide if he is mad or sane could take place early next year. His testimony – the first time he will have been seen in public since being locked up – will be relayed via video link to a court in Manchester where his victims’ families will be watching.

Jackie says Brady is fed once a day via a tube through his nose which goes down the back of his throat to his stomach. She adds: “He is given a liquid of the nutritional elements a person needs. The procedure takes about an hour.

“He wakes at 6.30am to have the feed and stays in his room most of the day. His room is the same kind of room as any other patient there. He doesn’t have photos or posters. He listens to radio and watches ­documentaries on TV. He does not read as much as he used to . He had an operation which was not a success.

“Another reason he wants to return to jail is because he wants to be around people who he sees as having a similar intellect to his own. In Ashworth he feels there is no one with whom he can even have a meaningful conversation.”

Brady has never said he wants to starve to death, Jackie says. Instead she says: “If he gets to a ­Category A prison he will make up his own mind.”

She says he is interested in ­politics and philosophical issues. “Four or five hours with Brady is quite ­intensive,” she says. “His conversation is ­detailed. He never forgets a thing and expects ­instructions to be followed.

“I go to him when there’s an issue around his mental health. He never asks about my life or family and I would never talk to him about those things. I’m a go-between between him, his lawyers and Ashworth. I liaise with medics because he doesn’t communicate with his care team.”

Jackie, also an advocate for other criminals, adds: “People often ask, ‘How can a mother help a child killer like Brady?’ On a personal level it is sometimes very difficult. But on a professional level, I believe every human being has certain rights.”

Brady is diagnosed as having both a psychotic illness and personality ­disorder. Jackie says: “Much of his ­behaviour stems from his legal battles with Ashworth Hospital. He is adamant that he is not mentally ill. He says he committed the murders at a time when, if he had been distracted by something else, they might not have happened.

“He talks about understanding the effects the killings had on the families of his victims. He does speak of remorse. He acknowledges he has taken from these families and knows what he did was heinous and wrong, but says, ‘If you ask me to say ‘sorry’ that is a word I cannot use because it is meaningless.’

Jackie reveals: “He is tall but not ­physically threatening. His eyes do not look psychotic. He just looks like an elderly man.”