Murderer’s son tells of living nightmare

The 29-year-old son of jailed murderer Ronald Castree, from Shaw, is disgusted that he has the blood of a murderer running through his veins and said in a radio interview on Saturday that he wished he could suck the blood out of his body.

Nick Castree, whose father was jailed for 30 years last year for the murder of 11-year-old Lesley Molseed, told listeners to “Saturday Live” on BBC Radio 4 that living with his father was like living with a “ticking time bomb”.

He told interviewer Claire Balding that his father terrorised his family, chasing them around the house with a gun and was frequently violent to his wife, Beverley.

He said that Beverley, who suffered several beatings and once had a broken nose, put up with Castree’s treatment until her children were old enough to look after themselves.

“Life with him was a living nightmare. We dreaded him coming home from the comic shop he ran, of hearing his key in the lock. If he had had a bad day, we all suffered.”

Nick said that he was not shocked when his father was arrested and that he had helped the police to bring the case against him to trial.

He said that he believed that his mother suspected Castree of something serious and that there had been many arguments about it.

“He used to say to her that she was like a dog with a bone and would shout ‘leave it’ to her to shut her up.”

Nick said that he was horrified to think that his father led a “triple life”.

"He was always looking at young girls, he liked them in their school uniforms and after killing Lesley, he went to hospital and held his new-born son in his arms.

“He thought he was clever and had got away with it and I can never forget that I am his son.”

Nick said that there was no animosity between him and Lesley’s sisters, Julie an Laura, and that he was only sorry he had not been able to do something sooner to bring them a sense of closure.

“I am his biological son, but I am not like my father,” said Nick. “People should not judge me by what he did and I have to learn to live with the fact that he was my father.

“There are people who will cross the street so as not to have to talk to me, but it is not my fault. I have done nothing wrong but there will be constant reminders when he is ill in prison or when he dies, it will all be dragged up again. There is no getting away from it but I am not a victim, I will survive.”

Nick said that when his father was first arrested for the murder, he wanted to believe that he was not a member of the family.

“I thought I must have been born to a different family and somehow swopped at birth and wanted a dad like other lads who would take me places and do things with me.”

Nick said that he had good days and bad days but was finding it difficult to move on.

“But if Lesley’s sisters can survive what they have been through so can I; I’ll go on and have a happy life,” he said.