Moors Murderer Ian Brady taken to hospital after seizure

Brady has been in Ashworth Hospital for 27 years

Moors Murderer Ian Brady has been taken to hospital after having a seizure.

Brady was due to attend a mental health tribunal on Monday regarding his application to be transferred to a Scottish prison and be allowed to die.

He is currently in Fazakerley Hospital, Merseyside, where he will remain for at least 24 hours and will undergo tests after his seizure on Monday.

Brady, 74, jailed in 1966 for murdering three children, has been detained at Ashworth Hospital, Maghull, since 1985.

Jackie Powell, Ian Brady's mental health advocate, told the BBC it was "too early" to say whether Brady's mental health tribunal would go ahead as planned on Monday.

The BBC has also learned of a letter written by Brady in the last few days in which he complained that the public and press would only be able to view the mental health review tribunal via videolink rather than in person, a situation he described as a "parody" of a public tribunal.

He gave no indication of any health problems in the letter which might have explained his admission to hospital for medical treatment.

Brady has been on successive hunger strikes since 1999 in an attempt to kill himself.

The murderer is sectioned under the Mental Health Act, so he is not allowed to take his own life.

He has been held at Ashworth Hospital, a secure psychiatric institution, since 1985 and has been tube fed since refusing food 12 years ago.

In a statement, Ashworth hospital said Brady had been admitted to a general hospital after becoming "acutely physically unwell" on the ward.

Possible seizure causes

In a statement, it said Brady had undergone a series of tests "and as a precaution he will be kept in".

It said he is in a single room and will be accompanied in that room at all times by two nurses from Ashworth Hospital, with two other members of its staff on duty outside his room throughout his stay.

Seizures, which can start at any age and may be a one-off event, result from abnormalities in the brain, but there are many different types and causes.

They may be a sign of underlying health problems like epilepsy or a brain tumour, although some remain unexplained.

Brady and his girlfriend Myra Hindley lured children and teenagers to their deaths, torturing them before burying their bodies on Saddleworth Moor, Greater Manchester.

Jailed for life

Pauline Reade, 16, disappeared on her way to a dance on 12 July 1963 and John Kilbride, 12, was snatched four months later.

Keith Bennett was abducted on 16 June 1964 after he left home to visit his grandmother.

Lesley Ann Downey, 10, was lured away from a funfair on Boxing Day 1964 while Edward Evans, 17, was killed in October 1965.

After details of Brady's seizure emerged, Alan West - Lesley Ann's stepfather - told ITV Granada Reports: "I only wished in one way that he would end up the same way as Hindley did.

"Don't come out of the hospital. The only way out is in a box. I'll be happy."

Brady was jailed for life at Chester Assizes in 1966 for the murders of John, Lesley Ann and Edward, while Hindley was jailed for life for killing Lesley Ann and Edward and shielding Brady after John's murder.

In 1987 the pair finally admitted killing Keith and Pauline.

Both were taken back to Saddleworth Moor in 1987 to help police find the remains of the missing victims but only Pauline's body was found.

Hindley died in jail in November 2002, aged 60.