Owner of moor where search for Keith Bennett taking place promised dying mum he'd find him

The owner of the Saddleworth Moor land where police are digging in the search for Keith Bennett says he hopes he is found after promising his dying mother that he would never stop looking for him. Chris Crowther is hoping Greater Manchester Police's search is successful after being missing for nearly 60 years.

Schoolboy Keith was just 12-years-old when he was taken by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley as he walked to his grandmother's house for tea in June 1964. He was then murdered by Brady and buried in the moors. The pair never revealed where they had buried Keith, to the anguish of his mother Winnie.

Mr Crowther, 65, says he promised Keith's late mother that he would not give up on looking for him. This came when she visited him while ill with cancer shortly before her death in 2012, The yeahMirror reports.

READ MORE:Police issue update after third day of search for Moors murders victim Keith Bennett

The Crowthers family have owned the more than 5,000 acres of land for generations where Brady and Hindley buried their victims. Chris' grandfather helped locate the body of John Kilbride in 1965.

Chris said he believes Brady would have buried Keith on the same side of the A635 road as John Kilbride, with all the female victims being on the other side of the road. Mr Crowther told the Daily Mail: "I'll be pleased if they find Keith because Winnie came up to see me when she was pretty poorly with cancer. She came up for a cup of coffee and asked me to carry on looking for Keith.

"She said, 'When you are gathering sheep, keep looking, keep looking Chris, will you promise me you will keep looking?' I said, 'Yeah every time I go out there, I'll look and see what I can see'.

"I have always been looking ever since, just for