Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1966-1967, 1975 (Creation)
Level of description
Ffeil / File
Extent and medium
1 folder
Context area
Name of creator
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Letters, 1966-1967, 1975, to the author and playwright Emlyn Williams from David Smith, brother-in-law of infamous Moors murderer Myra Hindley. Williams spent time with David Smith and his wife Maureen in order to gain insight into the lives of Myra Hindley and her partner Ian Brady for his 1967 novel Beyond Belief: A Chronicle of Murder and its Detection, a semi-fictionalised account of the criminal activities of Brady and Hindley. The novel was published a year after Brady and Hindley were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of five children aged between ten and seventeen in and around Manchester between July 1963 and October 1965. David Smith, who witnessed at least one of the murders, was the chief prosecution witness at Brady and Hindley's trial.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Smith, David, d. 2012 (Subject)
- Hindley, Myra, 1942-2002 (Subject)
- Brady, Ian, 1938-2017 (Subject)
- Williams, Emlyn, 1905-1987 (Subject)
- Smith, Maureen, d. 1980 (Subject)