Moors Murderer Ian Brady has been refused permission to launch a "totally unique" High Court fight for the right to have the lawyer of his choice representing him at a tribunal.

Brady applied for the go-ahead to challenge a bar on solicitor-advocate Robin Makin, who has represented him for more than 25 years, receiving a publicly funded contract to put his latest case before the Mental Health Review Tribunal (MHRT).

Mr Justice Morris, sitting in London, dismissed the application as "unarguable" and ruled that it had "no realistic prospect of success".