English murderer Myra Hindley was BOTD in 1942. Born in Manchester to a working-class family, she had a turbulent childhood, marked by her father’s violence and alcoholism, and was raised from the age of five by her grandmother. She left school at 15, working as a stock clerk and secretary. In 1961, aged 18, she formed a relationship with 23 year-old Ian Brady, a Scottish-born stock clerk recently released from prison for theft. Hindley quickly fell under his influence, dying her hair peroxide blonde at his request, and became drawn into his fantasies of murder, inspired by his reading of the Marquis de Sade, Friedrich Nietzsche and admiration for queer killers Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb. In 1963, she helped Brady abduct 16 year-old Pauline Reade, whom they sexually assaulted and murdered, later burying her body on Saddleworth Moor. Over the next 18 months, they abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered John Kilbride and Keith Bennett, both aged 12, and 10-year-old Lesley Ann Downey. In 1965, Hindley’s brother-in-law David Smith witnessed Brady killing 17 year-old Edward Evans with an axe and reported the crime to the police. Brady and Hindley were arrested for Evans’ murder, and were later charged with Kilbride’s and Downey’s murders after police found diaries, photographs and audio recordings of the killings. Their 1966 trial became an international media sensation, in which the jury was played recordings of Downey pleading for her life. Brady was found guilty of all three murders, while Hindley was found guilty of murdering Downey and Evans and harbouring Brady after Kilbride’s death. Both were jailed for life, prompting widespread calls for the reinstatement of the death penalty. Hindley’s widely-circulated police mugshot, staring balefully at the camera under a mane of unkempt blonde hair, became instantly iconic, contributing to her reputation as “the most evil woman in Britain”. Initially unrepentant, she remained loyal to Brady, continuing to correspond with him while insisting on her innocence. In 1970, she broke off contact with Brady, re-embraced her Catholic faith, and claimed that she had been the victim of his sadistic abuse. She later formed a relationship with prison guards Patricia Cairns, who hatched an unsuccessful plot to help Hindley escape, leading to Cairns’ imprisonment. For the rest of her life, Hindley launched a series of unsuccessful campaigns for parole, recruiting prison reformer Lord Longford to her cause (who described her as “a delightful person”). In 1985, Brady confessed to the murders of Reade and Bennett, insisting that Hindley had been his willing and enthusiastic accomplice. In 1987, she eventually confessed to her involvement in all five murders, and was allowed to travel to Saddleworth Moor to help police search for Reade’s and Bennett’s bodies. Despite further support from Longford and feminist barrister Helena Kennedy, Hindley was given a whole life tariff in 1990, ensuring she would never be released. She died in prison of respiratory failure in 2002, aged 60. Arguably the most hated woman in Britain, she became a cult figure of mythic proportions, inspiring innumerable true-crime books and documentaries and a quasi-tribute by singer-songwriter Morrissey in his song Suffer Little Children. In 1997, Marcus Garvey’s painting Myra, a giant recreation of Hindley’s mugshot composed of hundreds of child-sized handprints, was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, prompting widespread criticism, protests by the parents of Hindley’s victims, and two vandalism attacks. Still a controversial Hindley’s life, crimes and legacy continue to fascinate criminologists, feminist scholars and documentarians. She was portrayed by Maxine Peake in the TV film See No Evil: The Moors Murders and by Samantha Morton in Longford, both released in 2006.