Ted Geary says if it was up to him, he'd have seen Ian Brady hanged (Pic: Conor McCaughley)
Moors murderer Ian Brady
Ronnie Kray put a £5,000 bounty on Brady's head
Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe
Moors Murderer Ian Brady should have hanged, his Ulster jailer has claimed.
The man who turned the key on child killer Brady has lifted the lid on a lifetime being up close and personal with Britain’s most despised prisoner.
In an exclusive interview at his Northern Ireland home, Ted Geary, a retired member of the Special Hospital Service who supervised some of the UK’s most dangerous prisoners including Brady, gang leader Ronnie Kray and Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, told the Sunday World: “If it was up to me, Brady would have been topped years ago.”
And he also revealed for the first time how Cockney gangster twins Ronnie and Reggie Kray placed a five grand bounty on Brady’s head.
Geary, who served at Ashworth Hospital in Merseyside – where child killer Brady died two weeks ago – spoke out this week as the authorities continued to dither about what to do with his remains.
The Glasgow-born Moors Murderer had been gravely ill for weeks and had been receiving palliative care at a secure psychiatric care unit before he passed away.
With his lover Myra Hindley, Brady cruelly murdered five children in the 1960s.
Last week a coroner’s court refused to grant permission to release his body for cremation or burial until it received written confirmation that his ashes would not be scattered on Saddleworth Moor, near Manchester.
But Ted Geary, a former staff nurse with 22 years’ service in dealing with dangerous criminals and psychopaths, says the societal problems of dealing with a prisoner like Ian Brady should have been addressed years ago.
Originally from Berkshire, but now retired and living in Northern Ireland, Geary told the Sunday World he believes Brady should have been executed years ago.
“I would have had Ian Brady topped long ago,” he said.
But Geary – who is a registered mental nurse and holds a diploma in forensic nursing – insists he isn’t motivated by revenge in demanding a death sentence for the callous child killer.
“I’m a committed Christian, but for crimes of this nature – it’s the only answer,” he said.
“What the general public need to realise is that Ian Brady wasn’t mad – but he was very, very, very bad.
“I first met Brady at Ashworth Hospital at Magull on Merseyside. He was to go to Broadmoor, but it didn’t have adequate security.
“At that time staff at Ashworth always went round the wards to meet new patients. And I accompanied by boss Kevin Barron – Director of Services at Ashworth – on the day he met Ian Brady for the first time.
“Brady had been allocated his own private little area at Ashworth. He was sitting on his bed and smoking a cigarette when we walked in. I noticed he was wearing smoking jacket with a shell suit underneath.
“Brady was reading a newspaper and he looked up the see Kevin Barron looking at him. He turned to the other staff members and said: ‘Who is this c**t?’
“Kevin said; ‘I’m the Director of Services here and I expect you to stand up when I speak to you.’
But Brady just fixed his eye on Kevin and said, ‘F*** off!’
“Without another word, Kevin walked forward, gripped the end of the bed and up-ended Brady onto the floor,” said Geary.
He added: “It was important to let Brady know it was us who ran Ashworth and not him. Until Kevin Barron arrived, the prisoners ran the place, but all that changed.”
Ted Geary stands at well over six feet and he is powerfully built. And in his heyday (right) he would clearly have been more than a match the toughest prisoners in the British penal system.
But he explained that despite his decades behind bars, Brady was never violent.
“He never offered violence to an adult. Helpless children yes, but not another adult who may have given him some of his own treatment.
“Ian Brady was what we called a Rule 43 prisoner. He was kept on a wing on his own, but not because he was violent: he wasn’t. It was because he was socially inadequate. He didn’t know how to interact with people, be it patients or staff,” he said.
And the former Special Hospital Service officer revealed details of Ronnie Kray’s efforts to have the notorious Moors Murderer killed.
“We learned through the grapevine that Ronnie Kray had let it be known that he was prepared to pay a £5,000 cash bounty to any prisoner willing to murder Brady.
“Obviously, Brady wasn’t killed behind bars. He died of illness. But we understand Brady may once have been the victim of a male rape attack by another prisoner who had contracted a venereal disease,” said Geary.
But Geary believes Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe was always more vulnerable to attack than Brady. Ian Brady was kept apart from interaction with other prisoners.
“Ronnie Kray also had a £5,000 bounty on Peter Sutcliffe’s head. Ronnie was a full-blown schizophrenic and prisoners have the own moral code of ethics. He wanted Sutcliffe attacked because of the way he treated the women he murdered.
“A Scottish prisoner known as Jock Costello attacked Sutcliffe with a knife, but we were unable to establish if it was part of Ronnie Kray’s revenge plan,” he said.
And Geary related an incident which gave an insight into Ronnie Kray’s mental state.
“His twin brother Reggie had arranged to visit Ronnie. But Ronnie came to me and instructed me to cancel it. He said he had no wish to see his brother and he wanted me to let him know that and also to call off the visit.
“I ignored and the visit went ahead. At the start there was a frosty atmosphere, but after a while the twins had their arms wrapped around each other and they were balling their eyes out!” said Geary with a smile.
And Geary also revealed something of Peter Sutcliffe’s mental state behind bars.
“Like Ian Brady, Peter Sutcliffe wasn’t mad, but he was a psychopath. It is important to know that.”
Geary explained that while it was important that officers under his command built up a working relationship with prisoners like the Moors Murderer monster, he always remained vigilant that there was a line of separation.
“In Brady’s file, we had pictures relating to his crimes and I had heard there were also tape recordings. This was to serve as a constant reminder to staff how inherently evil this man was.
“In the parlance of prisoners, there are three categories – a nonce, a beast and a monster. Brady was classified as a monster.
“He was highly intelligent, but there was no programme of treatment for him because nothing could be done for him. He had a TV and video in his room and he liked to watch documentaries about himself.
“But he had no real quality of life. He lived a life of fear every minute of the day. Two officers went with him any time he had to move,” the retired hospital officer explained.
And Ted Geary added: “When you weigh it all up and the full cost is taken into account, then I believe there is a good argument to made for bringing back the death penalty in certain circumstances. Ian Brady was evil to the end.”