Police are digging in a search for the remains of Moors murders victim Keith Bennett after a skull was reportedly found more than half a century after he went missing.
The 12-year-old was one of five victims of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley in the 1960s, with three of them later found buried on Saddleworth Moor.
Fresh hopes were raised on Friday when a report in the Daily Mail revealed that author Russell Edwards believed he had located the boy's makeshift grave following "extensive soil analysis".
It is said Mr Edwards commenced his own dig - close to where the other were found - and uncovered a skull with teeth present.
Martin Bottomley, Greater Manchester Police's review officer, confirmed that the force are now investigating.
"At around 11.25am on Thursday 29 September 2022, Greater Manchester Police was contacted by the representative of an author who has been researching the murder of Keith Bennett, a victim of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley," he said.
"Following direct contact with the author, we were informed that he had discovered what he believes are potential human remains in a remote location on the Moors and he agreed to meet with officers yesterday afternoon to elaborate on his find and direct us to a site of interest.
"The site was assessed late last night and, this morning, specialist officers have begun initial exploration activity. We are in the very early stages of assessing the information which has been brought to our attention but have made the decision to act on it in line with a normal response to a report of this kind."
He added that is was "far too early to be certain whether human remains have been discovered", and added that verification could take some time.
Keith, 12, was abducted on his way to visit his grandmother in Manchester on 16 June 1964. His mother, Winnie Johnson, died in 2012 at the age of 78, never having discovered what happened to her son’s body.
Hindley lured the boy into a van by asking him to help with some boxes, while her lover Brady sat watching from the back seat.
Between July 1963 and October 1965, the pair murdered five children before Brady was eventually caught red-handed with the body of their final victim, 17-year-old Edward Evans.
Extensive searches of the Moors led to the discovery of the bodies of Pauline Reade, 16, John Kilbride, 12 and Lesley Ann Downey, 10, but Keith’s body was never found.
After seven years, Mr Edwards believed that he had located Keith’s grave, just a few hundred yards from the site where the couple buried their other victims.
Following extensive soil analysis, Mr Edwards started a dig under the supervision of a geologist and expert archaeologist.
Dawn Keen, a forensic archaeologist who specialises in the study of human remains, remotely supervised the 'grave cut'.
"I do believe there are human remains there. They [police] have got to look. From the photographs, I saw the teeth, I could see the canines, I could see the incisors, I could see the first molar. It is the left side of an upper jaw. There is no way that it is an animal," she told the Daily Mail.
Keith’s brother Alan, 66, who has devoted his life to trying to find his sibling, was informed about the extraordinary discovery. Sources described him as "stoic" when he was told.
