A detective has revealed how Lesley Molseed's twisted killer was finally caught. The 11-year-old's murder sparked a huge manhunt after she was stabbed 12 times and sexually assaulted after disappearing from her home in Rochdale.
Former murder squad boss Det Chief Supt, Max McLean appeared on Channel 5’s Cold Case Killers, where he discussed the chilling moment Lesley was killed, YorkshireLive reports. On October 5, 1975, Lesley was sent to the shop close to her home in Turf Hill, to buy a loaf of bread for her mum.
She never made it home and her body was found three days later facedown on moorland between Oldham and Ripponden, around 40 yards from the A672. Stefan Kiszko was wrongly accused of the murder after three girls told police he had indecently exposed himself to them just days before Lesley was found dead.
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The vulnerable man with learning difficulties, was eventually found to be innocent after 16 years behind bars - which has since been named one of the worst miscarriages of justice in UK history. Some 12 years later the real killer was found out by advances in DNA technology.
On October 1, 2005 there was a man arrested by Greater Manchester Police in relation to assault on a woman. The mouth swab taken from the man turned out to be the exact match to the DNA profile that West Yorkshire police had from Lesley’s crime scene.
It was later revealed that the DNA belonged to Ronald Castree, who had kept his dark killer secret for 31 years. On November 5, 2006, Castree was visited by police at his home in Shaw, Oldham, where he was arrested on suspicion of murdering Lesley.
Speaking about the exact moment they finally arrest Ronald, Max McLean said: "There he was the man we have been looking for. We found a man who was trying to appear to all around him as a normal family man, living in a small area with a wife, children, running a business and yet we knew his dark secret.”
He continued: “As the arrest was being made I was sitting in a car outside April’s house (Lesley’s mum) so that I could tell her that we had made the arrest. It was wonderful news to be able to share with the family that we had finally caught Lesley’s killer. I know they felt very emotional about that success.”
Max revealed that Ronald never admitted to anything in relation to that crime, which he admitted that it was sad for the family who didn’t get to hear Ronald apologies or explain his actions.
“What he did was dreadful and how he lived a lie for years was dreadful, Max explained. “How he didn’t have the courage to talk about what had happened and why he did it will always be beyond me.”
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On November 6, 2006 Ronald Castree was charged with the murder of Lesley Molseed and almost a year later a jury found Castree guilty.
Max added: “It had taken over 30 years for justice to be finally done. 1975 to 2007, 32 years for Ronald Castree knowing what he had done, the brutal, awful murder of a defenceless 11-year-old little girl and he had lived with that all that time.”
