Murder of Lesley Molseed

Lesley Susan Molseed was an eleven-year-old girl who lived with her family on the Turf Hill estate in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Born on 14 August 1964, she had a congenital heart condition and developmental differences, and was known to her family as "Lel."

On the afternoon of 5 October 1975, Lesley left home to run an errand to a nearby shop and did not return. A large search followed. Three days later, on 8 October 1975, her body was found on high moorland beside the A672 trans-Pennine road near Rishworth Moor, West Yorkshire, roughly eight miles from her home. She had been stabbed a number of times, and forensic examination indicated a sexual motive.

In December 1975, police arrested Stefan Kiszko, a 23-year-old tax clerk who lived near the Molseed family and who had significant learning difficulties. After several days of questioning without a solicitor present, he made a confession that he later withdrew. He was charged on 24 December 1975 and convicted of murder at Leeds Crown Court in July 1976, receiving a life sentence. The case against him relied heavily on the withdrawn confession and on statements by four local teenage girls who said he had exposed himself the day before the killing.

Evidence that undermined the case was not disclosed at trial. Semen recovered from the scene contained sperm, whereas Kiszko was infertile and produced none, a condition documented before his trial. Kiszko spent sixteen years in prison, during which his physical and mental health deteriorated. His mother campaigned persistently, and with a solicitor the case was reopened. The teenage witnesses admitted their accounts had been invented. On 17 February 1992 the Court of Appeal quashed his conviction and he was released. He died in December 1993. The case is widely cited as one of the most serious miscarriages of justice in England.

The investigation into Lesley's death continued. Advances in forensic science allowed a DNA profile of the offender to be recovered from material that had been preserved since 1975. In 2005 a sample taken from Ronald Castree, following an unrelated arrest, was matched to that profile. Castree, a Rochdale man with previous convictions for offences against children, was arrested in 2006 and stood trial at Bradford Crown Court. On 12 November 2007 he was convicted of Lesley's murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of thirty years.