The Moors murderer, Ian Brady, launched a High Court battle in Liverpool yesterday to win the right to starve himself to death, as he revealed details about his jealousy of his co-murderer Myra Hindley's potentially fatal brain condition.
As Brady (61) was brought under armed guard from Ashworth Hospital on Merseyside to the Queen Elizabeth II court complex in Liverpool for the first day of a four-day hearing, he admitted he was envious of Hindley's medical condition "whilst I have to fight simply to die".
In a letter to the BBC, which was published on its website BBC Online, Brady explained the jealousy he felt toward his former lover more than 30 years after they were sentenced to life for the murder of Lesley-Anne Downey (10) and Edward Evans (17). Brady was also sentenced for the murder of John Kilbride (12) and while in prison in 1987 he confessed to the murder of two other children, Pauline Reade (16) and Keith Bennett (12).
"I have had enough. I want nothing, my objective is to die and release myself from this once and for all," he wrote.
"So you see my death strike is rational and pragmatic. I'm only sorry I didn't do it decades ago, and I'm eager to leave this cesspit in a coffin."
Brady's case centres on his claim that Ashworth hospital has no legal right to force-feed him through a tube in his nose in a move that by-passed the hunger strike he began 153 days ago. He began his hunger strike in protest at being transferred from a comfortable regime on one ward to a ward with a stricter policy towards inmates.
Brady is also challenging the hospital's right to open letters sent between him and his solicitor.
Under English law an adult who is mentally capable of understanding the consequences may refuse treatment, including forcefeeding, and Brady insisted he was campaigning for that right to be upheld.