Myra mugshot is recreated

It is a chilling image that, for many, is the embodiment of evil.

With peroxide hair and pallid skin Myra Hindley stares at the camera in her notorious police mugshot.

Now, Channel 4 has re-created the 1965 photograph for a drama about the Moors Murders.

The 90-minute film, which will be screened later this year, follows Hindley's relationship with Lord Longford, the devout Roman Catholic peer who tried to win her parole.

The drama - starring Samantha Morton and Oscar-winning Jim Broadbent - is already drawing controversy.

Families of the children murdered by Hindley and her partner Ian Brady fear the film will open old wounds. Winnie Johnson, mother of Keith Bennett who was killed by the pair in 1964, describes the production as 'disgusting'.

Lady Antonia Fraser, a biographer and Lord Longford's daughter, has also spoken out against the script.

But Channel 4 bosses yesterday insisted the subject was being handled with sensitivity. 'We don't really go into the hideousness of the crimes,' said director of programmes Kevin Lygo.

'The drama is about Longford and his Catholic-induced obsession with forgiveness. It asks whether forgiveness is appropriate in this case.'