Tomorrow (Tuesday, April 19) will mark 50 years since the infamous Moors Murderers went on trial in Chester charged with killing three young children.

For 14 days in April 1966, the eyes of the nation were on the trial of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley at Chester Assizes - now Chester Crown Court - as the shocking truth unfolded about how the former lovers had lured the innocent children to their deaths.

Hindley and Brady were tried for the murders of Edward Evans, 17, Lesley Ann Downey, 10, and 12-year-old John Kilbride in front of Mr Justice Fenton Atkinson, but it would be another 21 years before they admitted to also killing 16-year-old Pauline Reade and 12-year-old Keith Bennett.

Myra Hindley and Ian Brady were tried at Chester Assizes 50 years ago this week

Both were sentenced to life imprisonment, with Brady being found guilty of what Atkinson called 'three calculated, cool, cold-blooded murders', while Hindley was found not guilty of the murder of Kilbride but guilty of being an accessory after his murder.

Ahead of the trial, special bullet-proof glass had been installed in the courtroom at Chester because it was feared someone might try to kill the accused.

And in what was one of the most shocking revelations of all during the trial, the last moments of Lesley Ann Downey's life were played out on a 17-minute tape for the first time to a hushed courtroom.

The tape recorded her desperate pleas to go home to her mum as the sadistic killers stripped her, tied her up and killed her. The court was also shown photographs of Lesley, bound and gagged in Hindley's bedroom.

Five decades on, Brady remains locked up and as of 2011 was the longest serving prisoner in England and Wales. Hindley died of a chest infection following a suspected heart attack in November 2002 aged 60. Despite making numerous bids for freedom, she was never released from prison.