Moors victim's words in porn book

A "Voyeuristic" writer has reproduced some of the last words of the Moors Murders victim Lesley Ann Downey in a pornographic novel.

At least six quotations from the horrific tape recordings of sexual assaults on the 10-year-old girl, made by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley and played at their trial in 1966, appear in a rape scene in P-P Hartnett's book Call Me, supposedly a work of fiction culled from replies to magazine contact ads.

The context - violent oral sex - is the same, though the rape is of a man. In it, the fictional hero boasts of being a serial killer, like mass murderer Dennis Nilsen, with whom Hartnett has corresponded in jail, according to friends.

The use of material from the tapes has been brought to the notice of Liberal Democrat MP Chris Davies, in whose Littleborough and Saddleworth constituency the Moors Murders took place. He is to raise the issue with Michael Howard, the Home Secretary, tomorrow. He said last night: "I cannot believe that the use of this material from the transcript is accidental. It must be there for a reason, and that reason can only be to titillate people with sick minds."

In the novel, the victim pleads in words identical to those used on the tape by the murdered girl. Several phrases used by Brady and Hindley are repeated word for word. In the tape transcript and Hartnett's book, the victim says: "I'm not going to do 'owt."

These direct quotations - particularly the use of " 'owt", a northern expression out of place in the novel - make it difficult to accept that the writer does not know what material he is using.

On the next page, the assailant tells his victim: "Shut up or I'll forget myself and hit you one." This, too, is a word-for-word extract from the Moors tapes, where the words are spoken by a woman, and the transcript records that the little girl is whimpering.

Suzanne Martin Associates, publicists for the book, said in a press release: "Ever since the tender age of 13, P-P Hartnett has been struck by the touches of poignancy, humour and revealing indications of life's drama in contact ads. Like so many, he's been intrigued by the imagery, the language...

"In search of some good, dirty voyeuristic fun, P-P Hartnett began his research for Call Me by placing an ad for a fictitious character, keen to see the replies, what people said, and how they said it. He wanted to see the stationery, the photographs, the handwriting, the fantasies."

Ms Martin denied knowing that the Moors Murder tapes had been used in the book, which goes on full sale on Tuesday, though it has been in shops around Soho for several days.

The author, Peter Paul Hartnett, a 38-year-old Londoner with Irish parents, was not available for comment yesterday. One acquaintance said he might be the originator of the material sent anonymously to the Liberal Democrats. "He craves publicity. That's his style," she said.

Hartnett was best-known as a polaroid photograher on the London club scene for many years. He then became a teacher of children with special needs.