The author who triggered a fresh search for Moors Murders victim Keith Bennett almost 60 years after he went missing has spoken of his "certainty" on finding the 12-year-old’s grave.

Russell Edwards has told The Oldham Times that the “very serious evidence” he gave to the police a week ago, including a photograph of an “upper human jaw” that he uncovered during a dig on the Saddleworth Moors, is the reason they are still searching the area.

Recalling when he showed the police the photograph last Thursday, Mr Edwards said: “As soon as I showed the police the photograph of the teeth and the jaw within seconds they were off like lightning.”

Mr Edwards, who has been searching for Keith for seven years, is certain he has discovered Keith's body who was snatched and murdered by the serial killers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley 58 years ago, but never found.

Referring to Keith, the author said: “We have found him, which is why the police are still up there, they’ve got to find him.

“A two- or three-centimetre partial jaw is what they’re looking for. They’re trying to find this little jaw in horrendous conditions up there, but I trust the police in what they’re doing.”

Discussing the police search, Mr Edwards said: “The reason why they are there is because what they have got is very serious evidence. They need to find this upper maxilla because there are very clearly teeth.”

The upper maxilla is the medical term for the upper jawbone.

In an update on Tuesday, senior investigating officer, Detective Chief Inspector Cheryl Hughes, of Greater Manchester Police Force Review Unit said forensic archaeologists and forensic anthropologists had completed a “methodical archaeological excavation and examination” of an area previously dug and refilled by a member of the public.

No bones, fabric or items of interest were recovered from the soil and forensic experts are now continuing an excavation of the area immediately surrounding the original site.

Soil samples have been taken for analysis but there is currently no visible evidence to suggest the presence of human remains.

Officers have taken soil samples but there is currently no evidence of human remains (Image:PA)

Mr Edwards has focused his search for Keith on an area of the moors called Eagle Rock, a location that Brady wanted to revisit at the time former GMP detective Peter Topping was interviewing him, which the author believes is significant.

He said: “I’ve got a lot of transcripts from Ian Brady and Myra Hindley’s interviews through Peter Topping’s book.

"Brady told Peter Topping that he would like to visit Eagle Rock and that it had no significant interest but would allow him to get his bearings and Peter Topping didn’t take any notice of that.

“Ian Brady wanted to go there to have a gloat that he knows where Keith is.”

Mr Edwards has also centered his search for Keith in an area near to where another Moors Murders victim, John Kilbride was buried and believes that Brady may have been forming the shape of a Swastika with the burial sites of his victims.

“I’ve always known John and Keith are one side and the girls the other,” the author said, adding: “The idea of a swastika, the shape in the road, and the way that the kids were, it leads itself to that so we’re looking for Keith in a specific area.”

John Kilbride, 12, and Lesley Ann Downey,10. (Image: PA)

In August last year, Mr Edwards hired a drone analyst, who he has chosen not to name, to analyse the area.

The analyst, who was looking for “changes in vegetation and “sunk land consistent with the size of a grave”, identified three areas of “significant interest”, according to Mr Edwards.

In September that year, Mr Edwards then went to the moors to examine the areas with the geologist Lesley Dunlop who advised that one of the areas needed to be investigated further.

Discussing the area Mr Edwards said: “It’s not far from the dig site where we found Keith. It’s at the bottom of two gullies and not far from John Kilbride.”

Mr Edwards took soil analysis from the area which came back negative.

Edward Evans, 17, and Pauline Reade, 16. (Image: PA)

On July 9 this year, Mr Edwards then went back to the site and took six further soil samples. Walking back from the site Mr Edwards then came across an “anomaly in the land” that “looked like it had been dug” and took a further sample.

Mr Edwards then sent the soil sample to Ms Dunlop who said the sample had “elements consistent with skeletal remains and material”, including calcium and magnesium.

On September 1, Mr Edwards and Ms Dunlop went to the site where the sample had been taken, along with a professional photographer, who Mr Edwards has chosen not to name. The forensic archaeologist Dawn Keen was also on standby awaiting to pick up any video calls.

Mr Edwards then conducted a dig, after taking the site’s longitude and latitude, which was filmed by the photographer who also took photographs during, before, and after the dig.

He said: “We knew we were onto something with the skeletal remains and I knew if we found something and didn’t film it people would cast doubts on my credibility.”

Discussing the dig itself, he said: “You analyse every single piece that comes out the ground below 12 inches. Just before 1pm at about two and a half feet down we saw very clearly mud and peat with grey material hanging out, which we photographed and then took to the police.

“About three feet in there was like a volcano eruption in the peat of a jelly-like substance which was very different to the surrounding soil.

“I immediately called Dawn who said: ‘That very clearly is adipose tissue,’”. Adipose tissue is connective tissue consisting predominantly of fat cells that is mainly found under the skin but also in deposits between the muscles and elsewhere in the body.

Ms Keen then advised Mr Edwards to dig six inches below the tissue to check for any skeletal remains. None were found.

It was only afterwards when Ms Keen analysed the photographs taken during the dig that she identified a section of an upper jaw.

Keith Bennett’s mother, Winnie Johnson. (Image:PA)

The photographs were then sent to an osteoarchaeologist with more than 30 years’ experience, who Mr Edwards said he cannot name due to her work with the police and on live court cases.

After receiving the photographs, the osteoarchaeologist, immediately said that it was an “upper human jaw”, according to Mr Edwards.

In a statement sent the Mr Edwards, she wrote: “Having studied the photographs sent to me I can confirm that I see possible remains of soft tissue of the skull with what appears to be adipose tissue below that appears to be consistent with human remains and what appears to be consistent with a human maxilla with the left and right first incisors, the left and right canines, the left pre-molars, and the left molar.

"I would suggest the maxilla shape is correct to be human.”

Mr Edwards explained that because there is only one molar it is the jaw of an 11 or 12-year-old. Keith Bennett was abducted four days after his birthday on June 16, 1964.

Referring to the jaw, Mr Edwards said: “If Dawn had not said to me that’s an upper maxilla, I would have still been non-plussed. It’s not that big. We were so overwhelmed by the adipose tissue we missed it but thankfully it’s in that photograph. The police need to sample that to get the DNA from the adipose tissue.”

Forensic experts are continuing an excavation of the area surrounding the original site (Image: PA)

Explaining the timing of when he went to the police, Mr Edwards said it wasn’t “a case of just running to the police,” adding: “We wanted it all belt and braces and second opinions by experts before we even called the police” to “not waste everybody’s time”.

“I could have called the police last year and said there’s a site of significant interest here, I didn’t, we did the work to make sure it got to a point we were convinced.”

On Dawn’s advice, Mr Edwards replaced the soil after his dig and everything he found, except the samples he took. A move which he said the police “thanked” him for as “a lot of people leave holes wide open.”

Discussing the backlash he has faced following the media coverage of the dig, Mr Edwards, said: “What’s upsetting me most is I’ve dedicated seven years to do this, I’ve tried to find everybody of an expert level to come and help me and I got the team together. Everybody is firing the worst comments at me, I’ve done nothing but try and find closure for Whinnie (Keith’s mother), justice for Keith, and defeat Ian Brady who wanted to commit the perfect murder.

“Every time I go up there and try and find Keith, I come back devasted if I’ve dug a hole and there’s nothing there or the sample has come back negative. It’s really hard to deal with as a non-professional detective.”

Commenting further on his search he added: “It’s cost me everything, I’m skint. I was very wealthy when I first started this. I’ve dedicated my life and my money to try and find Keith.”

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