Moors murderer Ian Brady has died aged 79, an NHS spokesman has confirmed.
Brady, who was using the name Ian Stewart-Brady, had been receiving palliative care at Ashworth hospital on Merseyside.
A Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust spokesman said: “We can confirm a 79-year-old patient in long-term care at Ashworth High Secure Hospital has died after becoming physically unwell.”
Brady and Myra Hindley, who died in prison in 2002, tortured and murdered five children in the 1960s.
Four of the victims were buried on Saddleworth Moor in the south Pennines.
Brady was jailed for three murders in 1966 and has been at Ashworth since 1985. He and Hindley later confessed to another two murders.
Earlier, Brady had been urged to “do the right thing” and reveal where the last of his child victims was buried.
Terry Kilbride, whose brother John (12) was murdered by Brady, begged him to tell police where he dumped the body of Keith Bennett, who went missing aged 12 in 1964.
He told the Sun: "I would beg him to do the right thing on his deathbed and tell us where Keith is. Now is the time for him to stop playing tricks and come clean.
“If he takes it to the grave, I will feel so sorry for Keith’s family. There will only ever be another search if there’s fresh evidence. That has to come from him.”
PA