History has a funny—and often cruel—way of remembering the wrong people. Most people hear about the Moors Murders and instantly picture Myra Hindley’s peroxide hair or Ian Brady’s cold stare. But there are two other names that usually get shoved into the footnotes, or worse, treated like accomplices in the public imagination: David Smith and Maureen Hindley.
If you've ever felt like the full story of the 1960s' most harrowing crimes was missing a piece, it’s probably because of how we’ve treated the whistleblowers. David Smith didn't just stumble into the police station; he ran for his life after witnessing something so depraved it changed British law and social history forever. And Maureen? She was the sister caught in the middle of a nightmare she never asked for.
The Night That Changed Everything
Imagine being 17 years old, a bit of a rough-around-the-edges teenager, and thinking your brother-in-law is just a weird, intense guy who likes books. That was David Smith's reality until October 6, 1965.
Brady had been "mentoring" David, trying to mold him, likely scouting him as a potential protégé for his "perfect murder" philosophy. That night, Brady lured 17-year-old Edward Evans back to the house on Wardle Brook Avenue. Then, he handed David a hatchet.
He didn't use it.
Instead, David stood frozen as Brady bludgeoned Evans 14 times. It wasn't a clean movie death. It was messy, loud, and horrific. Brady then forced David to help clean up the blood and move the body. Honestly, can you even fathom the adrenaline? David played along because he knew if he didn't, he was next.
He left the house at 3:00 a.m., went home to his wife Maureen—Myra’s younger sister—and threw up. He told her everything. While the world often paints the Hindley family with one broad brush of "evil," it’s crucial to remember that Maureen Hindley was the one who told him they had to go to the police. They waited for dawn, David armed himself with a screwdriver and a bread knife just in case Brady came looking for them, and they made the call from a public phone box.
Why David Smith Became a Villain
You’d think the guy who ended a three-year killing spree would be a hero. He wasn't.
During the 1966 trial, Brady and Hindley did something remarkably calculated: they tried to take David down with them. They claimed he was a willing participant, that he’d enjoyed the violence. Because David had a minor criminal record and was "one of them" (a working-class lad from the same circles), the public bought it.
The vitriol was intense.
- He was spat at in the street.
- People threw bricks through his windows.
- He was forced to move house multiple times.
- The press treated his testimony with a "guilty by association" tint.
Even after Myra Hindley admitted decades later that she and Brady had lied about David's involvement to spite him, the damage was done. He had saved countless future victims, yet he lived much of his life as a pariah.
Maureen Hindley: The Forgotten Sister
Maureen’s life was arguably just as tragic, though in a quieter, more isolating way. She was Myra’s little sister. They were close. But overnight, she became the sister of the most hated woman in Britain and the wife of the "witness" nobody liked.
The pressure tore their marriage apart. Maureen and David eventually divorced, and she tried to disappear into anonymity. She even changed her name. It’s a bit of a gut-punch when you realize she died in 1980 at the young age of 34 from a brain hemorrhage. She never saw the day Myra finally confessed to the other murders, like Keith Bennett or Pauline Reade. She died under a cloud of her sister's making, never fully escaping the shadow of the moors.
The Legacy of "Witness"
David Smith eventually found some semblance of peace. He moved to rural Ireland, remarried, and started a family. For 40 years, he mostly kept his mouth shut. He didn't do the talk show circuit. He didn't sell his soul to the tabloids.
It wasn't until he collaborated with author Carol Ann Lee for the book Witness (later titled Evil Relations) that he truly set the record straight. He died in May 2012, just a year after the book's release.
What's actually wild is that without David and Maureen's decision to go to the police that morning, Brady and Hindley might never have been caught. There were no fingerprints on the moors. There was no high-tech DNA. There was only a 17-year-old kid who saw an axe fall and decided he couldn't live with the secret.
Practical Takeaways from the Smith-Hindley Story
If you're researching this case or looking into the psychology of whistleblowers, there are a few heavy truths to sit with:
- Whistleblower Backlash is Real: In high-profile crimes, the person who breaks the silence is often targeted by the perpetrator’s defense to muddy the waters. David Smith is the textbook example of this.
- The "Guilt by Association" Trap: Maureen Hindley’s life shows how the "halo effect" works in reverse. Because her sister was a monster, the public assumed she must have had a "bad seed" too, despite her being the one to push David to the police.
- Check Your Sources: When reading older accounts of the Moors Murders, be wary of anything written before 1987 (when Myra finally confessed to more killings). Those earlier accounts often treat David Smith as a "shady character" because they were written while the killers' lies were still being treated as potential truths.
If you want to understand the human cost of the Moors Murders beyond the victims themselves, David Smith’s memoir is the place to start. It’s not an easy read, but it’s the only way to see the case through the eyes of someone who wasn't a killer, but was forced to watch one work.
To get a better grip on the timeline of the trial and how the public perception shifted, you should look into the transcriptions of the 1966 Chester Assizes trial, specifically the cross-examination of David Smith. It reveals exactly how the defense tried—and failed—to break the man who ended Britain's most notorious crime spree.