The photographs and tape recording of the torture of Downey exhibited in court, and the nonchalant responses of Brady and Hindley, helped to ensure their lasting notoriety. Brady, who said that he did not want to be released, was rarely mentioned in the news, but Hindley's insistent desire to be released made her a figure of public hate—especially as she failed to confess to involvement in the Reade and Bennett murders for twenty years. Hindley's role in the crimes also violated gender norms: her betrayal of the maternal role fed public perceptions of her "inherent" evil, and made her a "poster girl" for moral panics about serial murder and paedophilia in subsequent decades. Her often reprinted photograph, taken shortly after she was arrested, is described by some commentators as similar to the mythical Medusa and, according to author Helen Birch, has become "synonymous with the idea of feminine evil". Given Hindley's status as co-defendant in the first serial murder trial held since the abolition of the death penalty, retribution was a common theme among those who sought to keep her locked away. Even Hindley's mother insisted that she should die in prison, partly for fear for Hindley's safety. Some commentators expressed the view that of the two, Hindley was the "more evil".