Molseed murder back on TV

Lesley Molseed

A flawed police investigation which lead to one of Britain’s largest miscarriages of justice, the case of Lesley Molseed, was last night the focus of a crime documentary on ITV.

Real Crime: The 30 Year Secret, focuses on Lesley’s horrific murder and how it landed back in the headlines three decades later when her real killer, Ronald Castree, was brought to justice.

The documentary discussed the trauma of Stefan Kiszko, wrongfully imprisoned for 30 years, who died shortly after being released.

Little Lesley went missing on Sunday 5 October 1975 after she left her home in Delamere Road, Turf Hill, to buy bread for her mother.

Three days later her fully clothed body was discovered on the A672 Oldham-Halifax road. She had been stabbed 12 times and sexually assaulted.

Police from Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire launched a joint operation to find her killer.

Stefan Kiszko was charged with murder after a false confession.

He served 16 years in jail before being freed on appeal in 1992 after a fresh police investigation revealed he could not have produced the bodily fluid left behind on the little girl's clothes.

He died just before Christmas that year.

53-year-old Castree was brought to justice after police took a DNA swab when he was arrested on suspicion of another unrelated matter. It was an astonishing billion-to-one match.

Ronald Castree was finally jailed for life in November 2007.