Moors murderer Ian Brady has been allowed out of a top security hospital to visit his sick mother in Manchester.

The visit was authorised by Home Secretary David Blunkett in what a spokesman described as "very special circumstances".

It is understood Brady's mother, who is in her 90s and being treated at Manchester Royal Infirmary, expressed a wish to see her son before she died.

The visit took place on Wednesday under tight security and lasted for about an hour.

He had an opportunity to say goodbye to his mum and that was the important thing for her

Catherine Armstrong, Hospital director

A spokeswoman for Manchester Mental Health Partnership confirmed they had organised the visit on behalf of the Home Office.

Brady is a patient at Ashworth Hospital on Merseyside.

Catherine Armstrong, director of services at the Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust, said the meeting was set up at the request of Brady's mother.

Ms Armstrong told BBC GMR: "After that contact was made with Ashworth Hospital and the Home Office, the Home Office took over.

"We just made sure that when he [Brady] arrived he had access to the ward quickly and quietly without drawing attention to himself and the entourage that was with him.

"He had an opportunity to say goodbye to his mum and for us that was the important thing for her."

Brady was jailed for life in 1966 for three murders, and later confessed to another two killings.

He and his accomplice Myra Hindley abducted children off the streets, tortured and killed them, and buried the bodies on the moors near Manchester.