CHILD killer Myra Hindley begged doctors not to save her life if she had a heart attack as she lay on her deathbed, an inquest heard yesterday.Hindley insisted she did not want any attempts made to resuscitate her or move her into intensive care if she collapsed.

CHILD killer Myra Hindley begged doctors not to save her life if she had a heart attack as she lay on her deathbed, an inquest heard yesterday.

Hindley insisted she did not want any attempts made to resuscitate her or move her into intensive care if she collapsed.

But the Moors murderess still wanted doctors to give her drugs to ease her pain in the days before her death at the West Suffolk Hospital, Bury St Edmunds.

Heavy smoker Hindley, 60, was taking a cocktail of 24 different daily drugs for a range of ailments in the months before she died, the hearing was told.

The NHS provided her with at least 42 tablets and capsules a day including eight paracetamol tablets for pain relief.

The other drugs were treatment for osteoporisis, insomnia, angina, hypertension, depression, menopausal symptoms, raised cholesterol, back pain, arthritis and headaches and an irritable bowel.

Hindley also puffed on four different types of inhalers ten times a day to treat her asthma and bronchitis at Highpoint Prison in Stradishall near Haverhill.

The inquest jury of three men and eight women returned a verdict that she died of "natural causes" on November 15 last year in Room J of the hospital's G2 ward.

An earlier hearing was told how a post mortem had revealed that she had died of bronchial pneumonia as a result of her heart being weakened by hypertension and heart disease.

Dr Clare Laroche told how Hindley was admitted to the hospital on November 12 under the false name Christine Charlton after she had been suffering from shortness of breath for two weeks and a cold for the previous ten days.

She was in pain, having been unable to sleep for the "previous few nights" and was unable to speak more than five words at a time.

Hindley was given intravenous steroid and anti-biotic treatment to combat the chronic lung disease she was suffering from.

Consultant cardiologist Dr Evelyn Lee then asked her what kind of treatment she wanted to receive.

Dr Laroche, a consultant respiratory physician, told the hearing: "Dr Lee discussed with her whether she would wish to be resuscitated in the event of cardiac or respiratory failure.

"She expressed the wish for her to receive all active treatment - but not intensive care or resuscitation. A 'do not resuscitate' order was signed by Dr Lee."

Dr Laroche said she saw Hindley again the following day when she was "very distressed".

with an audible wheeze in her chest - despite being on maximum medication.

The doctor increased her level of drug treatment and gave her more steroids. Then on her third day in hospital - November 14 - she started giving her morphine to ease her pain.

Dr Laroche said she was woken at 4.55 am on November 15 when a nurse rang her to say that Hindley "had become distressed and was refusing to keep an oxygen mask" on her face.

She authorised the mask to be removed and Hindley was "peaceful" as she was given the last rites at around 6am.

"During the day her condition gradually deteriorated and she passed away peacefully at 4.55pm. I certified her dead at 4.58pm," she told the hearing at Highpoint Prison.

Dr Laroche agreed that Hindley's heavy smoking had "much to do" with her health problems.

At the end of the two hour hearing, Greater Suffolk Coroner Peter Dean referred to the Moors murders and asked every one in the court room to join him standing in silence "for a quiet moment's reflection to the victims, the families and all those who have lost loved ones in such circumstances."

Hindley and her former lover Ian Brady were jailed for life in May 1966 for the murders of Lesley Ann Downey, ten, and Edward Evans, 17, who were buried in unmarked graves on Saddleworth Moor, Lancashire.

Brady, 64, who was also convicted of murdering John Kilbride, 12, is being held in Liverpool's high security Ashworth Hospital.

In 1987 the pair also confessed to killing Pauline Reade, 16, and 12-year-old Keith Bennett.