The Moors murderer Ian Brady has been taken to hospital after suffering a seizure, it emerged on Tuesday.
Richard Nelson, Brady's solicitor, confirmed his client had been taken to hospital. Brady is thought to have suffered a seizure on Monday and is being treated at a hospital in Merseyside.
The 74-year-old is due to attend a mental health tribunal on Monday regarding his application to be transferred to a Scottish prison and allowed to die. Proceedings at the high-security Ashworth hospital were expected to be relayed to Manchester's Civil Justice Centre.
It is not yet known if the hearing will be delayed as a result of his hospitalisation. Nelson said the tribunal "was obviously very important". He added: "We are waiting for a decision. We hope it's not going to be affected."
Brady was jailed with his partner, Myra Hindley, in 1966 for murdering three children. She was convicted of two murders and protecting Brady after the murder of John Kilbride.
The couple lured children to their deaths, tortured them and recorded their desperate screams, before burying their bodies on Saddleworth Moor, Greater Manchester.
Brady has been detained at the hospital in Maghull, Merseyside since 1985.
The mother of Keith Bennett, one of Brady's victims, has indicated that she is not well enough to attend the mental health tribunal hearing. Winnie Johnson's solicitor said it would be too traumatic for her to attend. Last year, she said she hoped to come "face to face" with the killer. Her solicitor, John Ainley, said she had made it perfectly clear over the years that she considered Brady should remain in a mental hospital for the remainder of his natural life, and not be transferred to a prison in England or Scotland.
Pauline Reade, 16, disappeared on her way to a dance in July 1963, and John Kilbride, 12, was snatched four months later. Keith Bennett was abducted in June 1964 after he left home to visit his grandmother. His body has never been found, despite extensive searches of the moorland. On Boxing Day 1964, Lesley Ann Downey, 10, was lured away from a funfair and the couple's final victim, Edward Evans, 17, was killed in October 1965.
Both Hindley and Brady were taken back to Saddleworth Moor in 1987 – when they finally admitted killing Keith Bennett and Pauline Reade – to assist police in finding the missing victims, but only Pauline's remains were found. Hindley died in prison in November 2002 at the age of 60.
