A book about serial killings written by the Moors murderer, Ian Brady, can be sold in Britain after the High Court lifted a temporary injunction against its release yesterday.
Earlier this month, Ashworth high security hospital in Merseyside, where Brady is held, obtained an injunction preventing publication in Britain so officials could read the book to determine whether the content breached patient confidentiality.
The hospital withdrew its legal action after it decided that Brady had not breached confidentiality in the 300-page book, The Gates of Janus, which analyses the psychology of 11 serial killers, including Ted Bundy, who raped and killed 30 women in the US in the 1970s. It is understood that the book does not contain any references to Ashworth or to the murders of several children which Brady and Myra Hindley, carried out in the north of England in the 1960s.
Brady received an advance of £3,420; his former solicitor and executor of his estate, Mr Benedict Birnberg, said he would use the money and any royalties to support his elderly mother.
In a statement, Ashworth hospital said: "Having seen the book, there is no breach of confidentiality nor anything which prevents the hospital carrying out its statutory function as a provider of high security services for mentally disordered patients in the NHS.
"There is therefore no legal basis upon which the court could continue the injunction to restrain publication in this case."
The families of Brady's victims are angry about the publication of the book. The director of the Victims of Crime Trust, Mr Norman Brennan, said it seemed that crime "pays very well" for Brady. "The Government keeps on promising to crack down on criminals yet here we have Brady, responsible for the murder of innocent children and who is serving life imprisonment, is allowed not only to write a book and have it published but is also allowed to receive a payment," Mr Brennan said.
"If we are not going to deal with murderers in a serious way, it is hardly surprising that robbery, burglary and stalking are almost being accepted as an everyday crime."