Castree: the man with a dark secret

Oldham Chronicle reporter Richard Hooton looks in-depth at the Lesley Molseed murder case:

The fantasy word of comic books occupied Ronald Castree’s life for years.

But there was a dark secret and different persona to his public image the Shaw man kept hidden from his family and neighbours.

He was known as the “Book Fellow” to neighbours in Brandon Crescent, for his job of running a comic book shop. Despite living alongside him for more than 20 years, they knew little about him and had never stepped foot inside his home.

Some on the street had suspicions about his personality though — disturbed by a quick temper and several clashes.

Castree was born in Littleborough, where his victim’s family lives, on October 18, 1953, and went to school in Rochdale.

In 1973, he married his first wife Beverley with the first of three sons, Jason, born a fortnight before Lesley Molseed was killed in October, 1975, when Castree was 22.

But the child was not his. Beverley had an affair. Castree was living alone in Oldham Road, Rochdale, at the time Lesley was abducted, less than three-quarters of a mile from the Molseed home, as Beverley had returned to hospital in Oldham with her baby after developing deep vein thrombosis.

At the time, Castree was working as a taxi driver for Streamline Taxis, usually over weekends, and also held an office job at International Metals.

He went on to open up a market stall selling second hand books in the 1980s.

In court, Beverley Castree agreed her ex-husband was repeatedly unfaithful and had a string of girlfriends throughout their marriage.

She said: “There was always a third party in our marriage. That was the problem.”

The couple had two more sons, Nicholas and Daniel, but divorced in 1997 with Castree later remarrying to divorcee Karen Curtin, a local woman. He helped bring up her five children from a previous marriage with the youngest, aged from seven to 11 at the time of his arrest, living with them in Brandon Crescent.

Castree moved on from his market stall to run Arcadia Comics in Rochdale and Ashton, specialising in selling collectable comics, between 1994 and 2005.

He was even interviewed by a national newspaper in 1994, posing in a Batman baseball cap surrounded by hundreds of comics and speaking of his fascination of them since childhood.

He told reporters: “The timeless appeal of the comic is escapism. As people increasingly need a break from real life it can only mean greater popularity for comics of all kinds.”

He also made local headlines after the September 11 terrorist attacks, warning that deliveries of comics from America were being delayed.

But his shops began to struggle and closed and Castree traded on Tommyfield Market before using the internet site eBay to continue his business.

He moved to Brandon Crescent in 1982. Residents recalled one incident when he was fighting in the street over a parking row.

Neighbour, Francis Howard (81), who has lived there since 1969, claimed Castree was not popular. He said he had several run-ins with him over parking matters and land ownership.

He said: “I knew him quite well. He was not well liked around here. I don’t think any of the neighbours liked him. He had a temper on him if anyone started. He was not very sociable. He was not popular around here.”

Another neighbour of 25 years said her children and grandchildren used to play with Castree’s children and step-children but she never got to know him more than saying hello to on a few occasions.

She said: “He was not a person you knew. He was the sort of person you just greeted and said hello to. I was never in his company. He kept himself to himself. I think he was like that with everyone. I don’t know anyone here who ever went in his house.”

While awaiting trial, Castree was put on suicide watch at Armley prison. He had attempted suicide before and staff were concerned at his mental state. The trial was initially delayed after Castree complained he could not take the stand because of crippling back pains.

Eventually, painkillers were sent over from Armley to Bradford Crown Court and Castree was fit enough to appear in the dock — though the judge cast suspicion over how genuine his health complaints were. 

His past was the key

Ronald Castree’s dark past was to come back to haunt him as it provided key evidence in his trial.

Almost nine months after Lesley Molseed was abducted and killed, police investigated a crime with startling similarities.

A nine-year-old girl, who like Lesley had mild learning difficulties and lived near-by, was lured into a taxi on July 3, 1976.

She was driven to a derelict house where the man carried out a sexual act, the same as suffered by Lesley Molseed, but managed to fight back, kicking the man and running off.

Her parents alerted the police who arrested Castree and charged him with indecent assault and gross indecency.

At Rochdale Magistrates’ Court on July 12, 1976, Castree admitted the offences and was given a fine.

Prosecutor Julian Goose QC said: “Those convictions prove that the defendant had a propensity or tendency to be sexually attracted to very young girls.

“Just as he had used a vehicle to abduct the nine-year-old girl, take her away and carry out sexual acts upon her, he did the same with Lesley Molseed, only he took her to the moors and there killed her.”    

DNA led to downfall

Advances in forensic science led to Castree’s downfall.

Victim Lesley Molseed was found brutally stabbed 12 times but crucially semen had also been left on her knickers and body.

In 1975 it was not possible to extract and compare a DNA profile to identify the true murderer as the science behind its extraction and analysis did not develop until many years later.

But police took samples in an effort to discover the culprit’s blood group. In 1999, further forensic examination was carried out and a DNA profile created.

At its best, the probability of one DNA profile matching that of another, from a separate unrelated person, is less than one in a billion.

The tapings bore the DNA of Lesley and the culprit. No other DNA profile was found.

When Castree was arrested for an unrelated offence in 2005, the police used a swab to take a DNA sample and compared it with the 1975 sample.

The DNA profiles matched — and police were convinced they had their man.    

‘She was full of life and the joys of living’

COURAGEOUS Lesley Molseed had battled through a difficult start in life after being born with a heart defect and being small for her age — but her life was brutally snuffed out by Castree.

Proud mum April Garrett was close to tears as she described her “enchanting” daughter who was “very dainty” — weighing only three stones and 4ft tall — but had “fight.”

“We tried to treat Lesley as normal as possible,” she said. “We did not want to treat her as an invalid. Doctors said try to let her find her own limitations and that’s what we did. But we did keep a real good eye on her.

“She had absolutely loads of friends. She was bubbly, full of life, full of joy and the joys of living. She was a little rogue at times, she was a little imp. But she loved her home, she loved her family.”

Lesley initially went to a mainstream school but could not keep up so was transferred to High Birch Special School in Rochdale.

It was an unfortunate twist of fate that led Lesley to the path of her killer. Miss Garrett’s children took it in turns to run errands to the local shop for her. It was her 12-year-old brother Freddie’s turn, but he was out playing football so Lesley went instead.

Friends saw Lesley “dilly dallying” as she made her way to the shops for bread and air freshener — but shopkeepers say she never arrived. When she failed to return the family launched a desperate search and the police were called.

April, originally from Springburn, Scotland, moved to Lancashire with her second husband Danny Molseed and her children from a previous marriage, Freddie, Laura (13) and Leslie.

They lived at Delamere Road on Rochdale’s Turf Hill Road estate. Another daughter, 16-year-old Julie was living with her dad but often visited.

Known as “Lel”, Leslie was a cheerful, ordinary and happy child. She was a Bay City Rollers fan and was wearing her sister’s striped socks of her favourite band when she went missing.     

A chance discovery

Police officers and the community exhaustively searched for Lesley Molseed around Rochdale for three days after she went missing.

But it was a chance discovery that eventually found her body.

David Greenwell, from Nottinghamshire, was working in Rochdale at a jewellers shop, carrying out shopfitting work.

Rather than make the journey home he parked in a layby on the A672 Oldham Road, close to the M62, and slept in his mini-van.

The next day, he saw a bundle of clothes in an area out of sight of the road. He thought it may be a human body and immediately it flashed through his mind that a young girl was missing in the area.

Lesley had been left fully clothed in the items she was wearing when she disappeared but with her skirt up, showing her knickers.

Pathologists examining the body found 12 stab wounds, which had pierced the heart and lung. Brutal force had been used, with one blow penetrating the left shoulder. It was a “frenzied attack upon a small, weak, 11-year-old child”, said the prosecution.

The position of bloodstains indicated Lesley had been killed on the moorland site where she was found.     

Tragedy of gentle giant

Tragic Stefan Kiszko has become renowned as the victim of one of the most shameful and prolonged miscarriages of justice in British legal history.

The tax clerk described as a gentle giant was dogged with severe health problems as a child and was socially inept, living with his mother at the age of 23, when arrested in 1975 for the Molseed murder.

Stefan was sexually immature and had a zero sperm count that meant he could not have been the killer — though this was never put before the court.

However, a majority jury verdict found him guilty and he was given a life sentence in July, 1976.

After 16 years in jail he was released when police reinvestigated the case and the forensic evidence showed he could not be the culprit.

But he died a year later after collapsing at home.