The Daily Mirror newspaper must disclose the source that supplied it with Moors murderer Ian Brady's medical records, the House of Lords has ruled.

The judgement, in an appeal heard by five Law Lords on Thursday, said medical records must always remain confidential.

This, they said, was even more important in the case of the computer database at Ashworth secure hospital where child killer Brady, 64, is held.

The disclosure was made worse because it was purchased by a cash payment

Lord Woolf, Lord Chief Justice

Lord Woolf, the Lord Chief Justice, giving the lead judgment, said: "The care of patients at Ashworth is fraught with difficulty and danger.

"The disclosure of patients' records increases that difficulty and danger and to deter the same or similar wrongdoing in the future it was essential that the source should be identified and punished."

He said earlier court orders to disclose the source were justified.

"The fact that Ian Brady had himself disclosed his medical history did not detract from the need to prevent staff from revealing medical records of patients."

He added: "The source's disclosure was wholly inconsistent with the security of the records and the disclosure was made worse because it was purchased by a cash payment."

It comes after the Mirror published an article in December 1999 which included verbatim extracts from Brady's medical records while he was on hunger strike.

Brady was convicted along with Myra Hindley of several murders

He had been protesting at being moved to another ward.

Mr Justice Rougier first ordered the disclosure of the source in April 2000 and the Court of Appeal upheld his decision in December the same year.

But the identity of the source, believed to be an Ashworth employee, is not known.

The newspaper does know the name of the intermediary whose identity would lead to identifying the source.

The Law Lords ruled the source who withdrew information from the database acted in breach of confidence and contract.

And they ruled that when the Mirror accepted the data, it became involved in the wrongdoing.

Lord Woolf insisted that the ruling did not undermine the importance of preserving the anonymity of journalists' sources in a matter of the public interest.

Press freedom

"Any disclosure of a journalist's sources does have a chilling effect on the freedom of the press," he said

Sources feeling reasonably confident their identity will not be disclosed is an important part of a free press, he added.

"(It) makes a significant contribution to the ability of the press to perform their role in society of making information available to the public."

Brady was jailed for life in 1966 with accomplice Myra Hindley, for the murders of children Lesley Ann Downey and Edward Evans.

The child-killer received a concurrent life sentence for murdering 12-year-old John Kilbride.

The pair later confessed to the killings of Pauline Reade, 16, and Keith Bennett burying their bodies on Saddleworth Moor, on the edge of the Peak District overlooking Manchester.