In May this year an unrepentant Ian Brady, the Moors murderer, died. Terry Kilbride, the brother of a victim, hoped that Brady would “rot in hell”. Perhaps we agree: Brady would appear on many people’s short list of the wicked.
We sympathise with Kilbride’s immediate reaction. But then, perhaps, we think about it. If you were charged with deciding Brady’s punishment, how long would you think he should be tortured? Would a week be enough? Or a year? Or would you dismiss torture altogether as a barbaric punishment always to be condemned?
