Paranoid and nocturnal: Brady’s hospital behaviour revealed

The child killer only comes out of his room at night and shuns contact with others, partly owing to his superiority complex, the hearing at Ashworth Hospital was told.

The 75-year-old, who has been on hunger strike since 1999, wants to be judged sane and moved from the Merseyside unit, where he is being force-fed, to a prison, where he believes he will be free to starve himself to death.

The tribunal, which is being relayed by video to Manchester Civil Justice Centre, heard he also fears other patients and habitually carried a pen between his knuckles as an improvised weapon until it was taken away.

Brady was described as manipulative, contemptuous of his peers and quick to anger. He will only deal with people “high up” the hospital hierarchy – consistent with his narcissistic personality disorder, the tribunal heard.

Brady murdered five youngsters with partner Myra Hindley in the 1960s, burying their bodies on Saddleworth Moor. Both were jailed for life in 1966. Hindley died in prison in 2002 at the age of 60.

Brady has been at Ashworth since he was sectioned under the Mental Health Act in 1985.

Dr James Collins, his medical officer there, told the hearing Brady continues to suffer from paranoid schizophrenia.

But forensic psychologist Dr Adrian Grounds, called by Brady’s legal team, said the psychotic symptoms had reduced enough for the prison system to cope with him.

The hearing continues.