THE mother of a Moors Murder victim has accused an Ainsworth playwright of making "blood money" from a play about Myra Hindley.

Mrs Winnie Johnson, whose 12-year-old son, Keith Bennett, was abducted and murdered by Hindley and her lover Ian Brady in 1964, condemned Sheila McAnulty whose 40-minute play was performed in Manchester this week.

"It's sick and it's wrong. It doesn't do me any good. It doesn't do anyone any good," said Mrs Johnson, speaking in her Fallowfield home.

The play, Hindley , was originally written by Mrs McAnulty as part of an assignment for her theatre studies course.

But she had it publicly staged at the Taurus Bar in Manchester on Saturday (Feb 1), Monday and Tuesday (Feb 3-4) and charged £4 admission.

"It's blood money and it's to no-one's advantage but the writer's. She must be mental," said Mrs Johnson (69) who did consider going to see the play but thought it would make her too angry and upset.

Some have defended plays about the notorious killings by reasoning that they serve to remind people of the enormity of the crimes, in the same way that films like Schindler's List serve to remind people about the horrors of the Holocaust. But as far as the latest play is concerned, Mrs Johnson does not accept this.

"Saying it reminds people about Brady and Hindley is no justification. What they did was so terrible it doesn't need a play like this to jog people's memories."

She added: "I wish she hadn't written it and I'd ask that whatever money she makes from it goes to a children's charity."

The promotional flyers and programmes for her show were adorned with a photograph of a smiling Hindley crouching on Saddleworth Moor and looking down at the grave of one of her victims.

But Mrs McAnulty, a former Bury College lecturer, was keen to play down any suggestion that she is exploiting or sensationalising the murders.

"I want the play to speak for itself," she said after Monday's performance.

When asked if she had anything to say to Mrs Johnson, she declined to comment.

Keith Bennett disappeared on June 16 1964, four days after his 12th birthday on the way to his grandmother's house and was the third of the Moors Murder victims.

Although police at the time suspected Brady and Hindley of his murder there was never any proof and it was not until 1987 that the duo confessed to killing Keith.

His is the only body buried on Saddleworth Moor that has never been found.