I don't normally comment on non-music threads, but I have an interest is psychology and serial murder, and would like to contribute this small piece.
Hindley has been vilified so widely in this country, it is all-pervading. She has been THE bogeywoman of the last 25 years, against which all other murders, etc are compared. The main reason for this is twofold. Obviously the horror of the acts themselves (has anyone else heard the Lesley Ann Downey tapes) is the main one, but the second is sexuo-political (hey I just made up a new word!). Women are perceived as being life givers, not life takers. Women do commit sexual and serial murders, but they are VERY rare. For this reason, Hindley was the hate figure of the C20th.
Whilst she was always the benchmark of evil, Brady himself has never been considered in the same way. Again 2 reasons. Firstly, he's a man, and it's not so shocking to existing social morés. Secondly, he has the "defence" of being absolutely, undeniably, and irretrievably crazy. People tend to judge him less harshly on this basis. Accepted opinion has it that the Moors Murders were the result of a folie á deux in which Brady was the initiator. Whilst Hindley became his willing pupil, she almost certainly would not have become a murderer of her own accord. Brady, on the other hand, was a threat who went through several stages of murderous evolution before the infamous events happened. I'm not speaking as an apologist for her, just as someone with an interest in the case. I would question the guest who mentions in excess of 25 murders. I've never heard of this, but more importantly, the rule of law is such that she was charged with 5 murders, and only 5. Final point (phew!) I wonder who the next tabloid bogeywoman will be. I fully expect Rose West will have to assume this particular mantle. What the victims families have had to go through has been terrible, but no matter how vehement the abuse or vitriolic the opinions now, Hindley herself has passed beyond caring (if she ever did). The press should be encouraging support for the families, rather than wishing hell on a pile of bones.
a.w.