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[This edited version of the report has been prepared by Dr Robert N Moles]

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12 November 2007 The Guardian / Press Association reported “30 years for Molseed killer”.

It said that a comic book dealer has been jailed for life with a recommendation he spends at least 30 years behind bars for the murder of 11-year-old Lesley Molseed more than 30 years ago. Ronald Castree, 54, of Shaw, Oldham, was found guilty of murdering little Lesley, who went missing from her home in Rochdale while she was running an errand on October 5, 1975. An innocent man, Stefan Kiszko, spent 16 years in prison for the murder until he was released in 1992. Castree was found guilty after 11 hours and 38 minutes of deliberations on a majority decision.

Castree shrugged his shoulders but showed little other emotion as the foreman returned the verdict in the packed court. Members of Lesley's family shouted "yes" and hugged each other in the gallery. The jury heard how Castree abducted Lesley as she went on an errand to buy bread for her mother on an ordinary Sunday morning. Her body was found three days later on the West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester border, on moors near the A672 Oldham to Ripponden road. She had been stabbed 12 times during a "frenzied attack", the jury was told.

Mr Kiszko was jailed the year after. After his release scientists built up a DNA profile of whoever left semen which was found in Lesley's pants. A DNA sample taken from Castree in 2005, when he was arrested but never charged for another sex attack, was a direct match with the sample from the 1975 murder scene.

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