Stefan Kiszko
Encyclopedia
Lesley Susan Molseed was an eleven-year old girl from Turf Hill, Rochdale
, Greater Manchester
, who was murdered on Rishworth Moor
in West Yorkshire
.
Stefan Ivan Kiszko (24 March 1952 – 23 December 1993), a 23-year-old local tax clerk of Ukrainian
/Slovenian parentage, served 16 years in prison after he was wrongly convicted of her sexual assault and murder. His ordeal was described by one MP as "the worst miscarriage of justice
of all time." Kiszko was released in 1992 after forensic evidence showed that he could not have committed the murder. He died in December 1993. Ronald Castree
was eventually found guilty of the crime on 12 November 2007.
area was immediately begun. Lesley's body was found three days later lying on a natural turf shelf 30 ft above a remote layby on the trans-Pennine A672 near Rishworth Moor. She had been stabbed twelve times in the upper shoulder and back. Some of the wounds were very deep and one had penetrated her heart. None of her clothing was disturbed but her body had been posed and killer had ejaculated
on her underwear.
At the time of the hunt, four teenage girls, Maxine Buckley, Catherine Burke, Debbie Brown and Pamela Hind, claimed that Kiszko had indecently exposed
himself to them the day before the murder. One of them also said he had exposed himself to her a month after the murder, on Bonfire night
and that had been stalking her for some time previous to that. West Yorkshire Police
quickly formed the view that Kiszko fitted their profile of the sort of person likely to have killed Lesley Molseed even though he had never been in trouble with the law and had no social life beyond his mother and aunt. (His father Ivan had died of a heart attack, in the street, at Kiszko's feet, on 29 September 1970). Kiszko also had an unusual hobby of writing down registration numbers of cars that annoyed him, which supported police suspicions. The police now pursued evidence which might incriminate him, and ignored other leads that might have taken them in other directions.
Acting upon the teenage girls' information and their suspicions of Kiszko's idiosyncratic lifestyle—and having allegedly found girlie magazines and a bag of sweets in his car—the police arrested him on 21 December 1975. During questioning, the interviewing detectives seized upon every apparent inconsistency between his varying accounts of the relevant days as further demonstration of his likely guilt. Kiszko confessed to the crime after three days of intensive questioning. Prior to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act of 1984, suspects did not have the right to have a solicitor
present during interviews, and the police did not ask Kiszko if he wanted one. His request to have his mother present whilst he was being questioned was refused and, crucially, the police did not caution
him until long after they had decided he was the prime – indeed, only – suspect.
After admitting to the murder to police, Kiszko was charged with Molseed's murder on Christmas Eve
1975. When he entered Armley Jail
, following his being charged, he was nicknamed "Oliver Laurel" because he had the girth of Oliver Hardy
and the perplexed air of Oliver's comedy sidekick Stan Laurel
. Later, in the presence of a solicitor, Kiszko retracted his confession.
Kiszko was remanded until his murder trial, which began on 7 July 1976 under Sir Hugh Park
. He was defended by David Waddington
QC, who later became Home Secretary
. The prosecuting QC, Peter Taylor
, later became Lord Chief Justice the day after Kiszko was cleared of the murder in 1992. Taylor was most noted for his reports into the Hillsborough Disaster
at the Sheffield Wednesday FC football stadium at Hillsborough, Sheffield
.
Then there was the inconsistent defence of diminished responsibility
which Kiszko never authorised, on the grounds that the testosterone
he was receiving for his hypogonadism
might have made him behave unusually. Kiszko's endocrinologist, if called, would have said that his treatment could not have caused him to act such a way that would make him carry out murder. He was never called.
The manslaughter
claim undermined Kiszko's claims that he was totally innocent and destroyed his alibis (a defence known in legal parlance as 'riding two horses'). In fact, his innocence could have been demonstrated at the trial. The pathologist who examined Molseed's clothes found traces of sperm, whereas the sample taken from Kiszko by the police contained no sperm. There was medical evidence that Kiszko had broken his ankle some months before the murder and, in view of that and his being overweight, he would have found it difficult to scale the slope to the murder spot. The sperm findings were suppressed by the police and never disclosed to the defence team or the jury: neither was the medical evidence of his broken ankle disclosed to the court.
Kiszko gave evidence that in July 1975 he had had become ill and had been admitted to Birch Hill Hospital, where he was given a blood transfusion. In August he was transferred to a Manchester
hospital and diagnosed as being anaemic and having a hormone deficiency. He agreed to injections to rectify the latter problems and was discharged in September 1975. He said correctly that he had never met Molseed and therefore could never have murdered her and claimed he was with his Aunt tending to his father's grave in Halifax
at the time of the murder before visiting a garden centre and then going home. His denials of murder were not believed by most of the jury, nor were his claims that the confession was bullied out of him by the police. When asked why he had confessed, Kiszko replied that "I started to tell these lies and they seemed to please them and the pressure was off as far as I was concerned. I thought if I admitted what I did to the police they would check out what I had said, find it untrue and would then let me go".
His conviction was secured by a 10-2 majority verdict on 21 July 1976 at Leeds
Crown Court
after five hours and 35 minutes deliberation. He was given a life sentence for committing Molseed's murder. The judge told praised the three girls, but Buckley in particular, who made the exposure claims for their "bravery and honesty" in giving evidence in court and "sharp observations". Pamela Hind's evidence was read out in court. Park said that Buckley's "Sharp eyes set this train of enquiry into motion". He also praised the police officers involved in the case "..for their great skill in bringing to justice the person responsible for this dreadful crime and their expertise in sifting through masses of material" and said that "I would like all the officers responsible for the result to be specially commended and these observations conveyed to the Chief Constable". DS John Akeroyd and DSupt Holland were singled out for praise.
Sheila Buckley, whose daughter Maxine played a major part in securing Kiszko's conviction, blasted the police for not arresting him earlier and told the Manchester Evening News
that "Children are a lot safer now this monster
has been put away". She also demanded Kiszko's hanging. Even Albert Wright, Kiszko's solicitor, thought that his client was guilty, but that it was a case of diminished responsibility, and as a result, Kiszko should not have been convicted outright of murder.
to protect him from other inmates as in the eyes of the law he was now a convicted sex offender
. Kiszko launched an appeal, but it was dismissed on 25 May 1978, when Lord Justice Bridge
said "We can find no grounds whatsoever to condemn the jury's verdict of murder as in any way unsafe or unsatisfactory The appeal is dismissed".
In March 1981 he was involved in a fight with another prisoner, when he was punched in an unprovoked attack, but this time Kiszko retaliated, and the two had to be separated by guards. They both were given a loss of privileges for 28 days. Kiszko was never physically attacked again during the remainder of his time in prison as he was better protected and was often in the hospital wing of prisons he was held in. When he wasn't, he was placed among less violent offenders.
From 1979 onwards, Kiszko developed schizophrenia
whilst in prison and began to suffer from delusions, one being that he was the victim of a plot to incarcerate an innocent tax-office employee so the effects of imprisonment would be tested on him. Over the next 11 years any of Kiszko's claims of innocence were labelled by prisons he was held in as symptoms of his schizophrenic delusions, or because they felt he was in a mental state of denial over the murder. One forensic psychiatrist
in prison made a note of Kiszko suffering from "delusions of innocence".
On 11 November 1981 Kiszko was transferred to Gloucester Prison and in April 1983 was told that he would only ever be eligible for parole if he admitted to having carried out the murder. If he continued to deny being a child killer, then he would spend the rest of his natural life behind bars, but this made no difference to Kiszko's stance. Thirteen months later, while still denying having carried out the murder, he was moved to Bristol Prison
. Such was his mental deterioration that a month later, in June 1984, it was recommended by a forensic psychiatrist that he should be moved to either Broadmoor
, Park Lane (Liverpool
), Rampton
, or Ashworth
Hospitals, but nothing came of it. Six months later, in December 1984, Kiszko was returned to Wakefield prison.
In August 1987 he was transferred again from Wakefield to Grendon Underwood
Prison, where in 1988, the Governor tried to persuade Kiszko to enroll on a sex offenders' treatment programme, in which he would have had to admit having committed the rape and murder. Having done that, he would then discuss what motivated him. Kiszko refused to take part and repeatedly and persistently refused to "address his offending behaviour" on the grounds that he had done nothing that needed addressing. After this, he was left in Grendon Underwood until May 1989, when he was moved back to Wakefield Prison, and finally, on 15 March 1991 Kiszko was transferred to Ashworth Hospital
, under Section 47 of the Mental Health Act 1983
, after six months of delay, on the grounds of deteriorating mental health
.
) and the legal system, in 1984 Kiszko's mother contacted JUSTICE
, the UK human rights organisation which at the time investigated many miscarriages of justice. Three years later, she was also then put in touch with solicitor Campbell Malone, who agreed to take a look at the case when it seemed almost certain that Kiszko would never be released.
Malone consulted Philip Clegg, who had been Waddington's junior at the July 1976 trial. Clegg had expressed his own doubts about the confession and conviction at the time, and over the next two years, Clegg and Malone prepared a petition to the Home Secretary
. The draft was finally ready to be sent on 26 October 1989. On the same day, by coincidence, a new Home Secretary was announced: David Waddington. Perhaps due to Waddington's delicate position in the matter, sixteen months passed before a police investigation into the conduct of the original trial began. Waddington resigned as Home Secretary in November 1990 to take up a peerage
and to serve as Leader of the House of Lords
. He was replaced by Kenneth Baker
.
In February 1991 Campbell Malone, with the help of a private detective named Peter Jackson finally urged the Home Office to reopen the case, which was then referred back to the West Yorkshire Police
. Detective Superintendent Trevor Wilkinson was assigned to the job. He immediately found several glaring errors. Kiszko's innocence was demonstrated conclusively through medical evidence; he had male hypogonadism
, which rendered him infertile, contradicting forensic evidence obtained at the time of the murder. In 1975 his testes had measured 4 to 5 mm, whereas the average male testicular size was 15 to 20 mm. During his research, Jackson found someone who said correctly that Kiszko had been seen with his aunt tending his father's grave. They said they couldn't understand why they hadn't been called to give evidence at the trial. Someone else said he was in a shop around the time of the murder.
Also in February 1991, the three females involved in the court trial admitted that the evidence they gave which led to Kiszko's arrest and conviction was false, and that they had lied for "a laugh" and because "At the time it was funny". Burke said she wished she hadn't said anything but refused to apologise, saying she didn't think it would have gone as far as it did. Buckley said it wasn't Kiszko who had exposed himself to her and hadn't been stalking them, but that they had seen a taxi driver (not Ronald Castree) urinating behind a bush on the day of Molseed's murder. She also refused to apologise. Brown refused to make a statement. Hind was the most remorseful of the four, and said what they did was "Foolish but we were young" and had she appeared in court, she would have told the truth about Kiszko and not perjured herself, unlike her friends, and that she also didn't think Kiszko would be convicted.
In August 1991, the new findings in Kiszko's case were referred to Kenneth Baker
, who immediately passed them on to the Court of Appeal. On 8 January 1992, Kiszko was moved from Ashworth to Prestwich
Hospital.
apparently changed its view and, in February 1990, privately disclosed that Kiszko's first parole hearing would take place in December 1992, by which time he would have served 17 years in custody, but he would only be released if he could convince the Parole Board if he wouldn't be a danger if ever released and only if he admitted to having murdered Lesley Molseed.
However, ten months before his parole hearing, on 17 February 1992, the judicial investigation into Kiszko's conviction began. It was heard by three judges, Lord Lane, Mr. Justice Rose and Mr. Justice Potts. Present at the hearing were Franz Muller QC and William Boyce for the Crown, who were going to argue that Kiszko was guilty of murder and therefore must remain in prison custody for at least another ten months, and Stephen Sedley QC and Jim Gregory, to state that Kiszko was innocent. However, Muller and Boyce did not put up any contrary argument after hearing the new evidence from Sedley and Gregory, and immediately accepted its validity.
After hearing the new evidence, Lord Chief Justice Lane said: "It has been shown that this man cannot produce sperm. This man cannot have been the person responsible for ejaculating over the girl's knickers and skirt, and consequently cannot have been the murderer". Kiszko was cleared and Lane ordered his immediate release from prison custody. Anthony Beaumont-Dark
, a Conservative MP said, "This must be the worst miscarriage of justice of all time" and, like many others, demanded a full, independent and wide ranging inquiry into the conviction.
The 1976 trial judge Sir Hugh Park
, who had praised the police and the 13-year-old girls at the original trial for bringing Kiszko to justice, apologised for what had happened to Kiszko but said he wasn't sorry for how he had handled the court case. The Molseed family, who were convinced of Kiszko guilt up to the very moment of him being cleared, also publicly apologised for the things they had said after his conviction such as demanding that he be hanged in public. In 1976 Lesley Molseed's father, Fred Anderson, had hurled a volley of verbal abuse at Charlotte Kiszko outside the court after her son was convicted. Anderson had also told the media that he would be outside the prison gates waiting for Kiszko should he be ever released. In February 1992, Kiszko's mother said that it was David Waddington who ought to be "strung up" for his pro-capital punishment
views and for the way he had handled her son's defence at the 1976 trial.
Despite the overwhelming and obvious evidence that Kiszko was innocent, the West Yorkshire police and Ronald Outteridge, the original forensic scientist, refused to apologise to Kiszko over his wrongful conviction. In 1991 Outteridge was angry when questioned over his role in the trial. Neither did David Waddington, Sheila Buckley, her daughter Maxine, Hind, Brown and Burke, whose perjured evidence helped convict Kiszko, or prosecution barrister Peter Taylor
offer any apology or expressed one word of regret for what had happened. All refused to comment when Kiszko was released. West Yorkshire Police even tried to justify its position they took in 1975 while accepting and admitting they were wrong.
and showed little interest in anything or anyone. He drove his car again on short journeys, but other people's apologies for what had happened, encouragement and support seemed to frighten him on the rare occasions he ventured out. His mental health had deteriorated over the years, now did his physical health; in October 1993 he was diagnosed as suffering from angina
.
Stefan Kiszko died of a massive heart attack
, in Rochdale
, Greater Manchester, on 23 December 1993, at home, 18 years and two days after he made the confession that helped lead to wrongful conviction for murder. He was 41 years old. Lesley Molseed's sister was one of those who attended his funeral two weeks later on 5 January 1994. His mother, Charlotte Hedwig Kiszko, died four months later, in Rochdale, on 3 May 1994, at the age of 70. The two are buried together in Rochdale Cemetery.
After release from prison Kiszko had been told he would receive £500,000 in compensation for the years spent in prison. He had received an interim payment, but neither he nor his mother ever received the full amount they were awarded, since both died before Kiszko was due to receive it.
A TV film adaptation of the tragic story of Stefan Kiszko was made in 1998, A Life for a Life, directed by Stephen Whittaker
, featuring Tony Maudsley
as Kiszko and Olympia Dukakis
as his mother Charlotte. A documentary about the case, Real Crime: The 30 Year Secret, was broadcast by ITV1
on 29 September 2008.
,
1995 the case was challenged by defence barristers, arguing that the case was an abuse of process and that charges should be stayed as the passage of time had made a fair trial impossible. The presiding magistrate agreed and as the case was never presented before a jury, the law regards the accused as presumed innocent.
Holland, who came to public prominence as a senior officer on the flawed investigation into the murders committed by the Yorkshire Ripper
, retired in 1988, at a time when he viewed the conviction of both Kiszko and of Judith Ward
(In May 1992 her conviction was also viewed as unsafe by the High Court) as being among his finest hours during his 35 years in the police force. However, Holland was demoted during the Yorkshire Ripper inquiry four years after Kiszko's conviction. He died in February 2007 at the age of 74.
programme, publicly announcing the existence of a DNA profile of the killer for the first time, but no new leads were forthcoming.
On Sunday 5 November 2006, it was announced that a 53-year-old man had been arrested in connection with the murder. DNA evidence was alleged to have shown a "direct hit" with a sample found at the scene of the murder. In 2000 forensic scientists had developed a ground-breaking technique especially for this investigation, allowing them to re-examine the tapings taken from the victim’s clothes. Ronald Castree
of Shaw and Crompton
, Greater Manchester, was charged with the murder of Lesley Molseed and made his first court appearance on 7 November 2006 where he was remanded in custody. On 3 July 1976, Castree had been charged with a sexual assault on a nine year-old girl, less than mile from where Lesley Molseed had been abducted, and had that same night confessed this crime to his wife. Castree was duly arrested and charged, but was later fined only £25 for his crime at Rochdale Magistrate's Court.
On 1 October 2005 Castree was arrested for allegedly committing a violent rape against a prostitute in Oldham
. When arrested, his DNA
was routinely taken. Although innocent of the offence, and later released without charge, the DNA matched that on sperm heads that had been left on Lesley Molseed's pants thirty years earlier. At a court hearing on 19 April 2007, Castree pleaded not guilty but on 23 April his application for bail was refused. Castree's trial began at Bradford
Crown Court on 22 October 2007. and on 12 November Castree was found guilty. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 30 years. Ronald Castree was found guilty of Molseed's murder by a 10-2 majority.
Outteridge, having not been charged over Kiszko's wrongful conviction, gave evidence at the trial of Castree. The West Yorkshire Police finally apologised for Kiszko's wrongful arrest and imprisonment, on the day the Castree verdict was announced, when Detective Chief Superintendent Max McLean said of Kiszko's wrongful imprisonment: "We are very sorry. I think everybody regrets enormously what happened to Stefan Kiszko. It was a dreadful miscarriage of justice. I am so pleased that today we have finally put things right."
Rochdale
Rochdale is a large market town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the foothills of the Pennines on the River Roch, north-northwest of Oldham, and north-northeast of the city of Manchester. Rochdale is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan...
, Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
, who was murdered on Rishworth Moor
Rishworth
Rishworth is a village in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England....
in West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
.
Stefan Ivan Kiszko (24 March 1952 – 23 December 1993), a 23-year-old local tax clerk of Ukrainian
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
/Slovenian parentage, served 16 years in prison after he was wrongly convicted of her sexual assault and murder. His ordeal was described by one MP as "the worst miscarriage of justice
Miscarriage of justice
A miscarriage of justice primarily is the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. The term can also apply to errors in the other direction—"errors of impunity", and to civil cases. Most criminal justice systems have some means to overturn, or "quash", a wrongful...
of all time." Kiszko was released in 1992 after forensic evidence showed that he could not have committed the murder. He died in December 1993. Ronald Castree
Ronald Castree
Ronald Castree is an English convicted murderer. He was convicted on 12 November 2007 of the murder of Lesley Molseed, who had died 32 years earlier....
was eventually found guilty of the crime on 12 November 2007.
Crime and subsequent developments
Lesley Molseed, born Lesley Susan Anderson, was a frail child: small for her age, she had been born with a congenital cardiac condition. She was known as "Lel" to her brother and two sisters. Early in the Sunday afternoon of her murder she had volunteered to go from her home at 11, Delamere Road, to the local shop to buy bread. She was last seen in Stiups Lane, but she never returned. A search around the town and the adjacent M62M62
M62 or M-62 may refer to:* M62 motorway, a motorway in England.* M-62 , a state highway in Michigan.* M62 locomotive, a Soviet heavy freight diesel locomotive.* BMW M62, a 1994 automobile engine....
area was immediately begun. Lesley's body was found three days later lying on a natural turf shelf 30 ft above a remote layby on the trans-Pennine A672 near Rishworth Moor. She had been stabbed twelve times in the upper shoulder and back. Some of the wounds were very deep and one had penetrated her heart. None of her clothing was disturbed but her body had been posed and killer had ejaculated
Ejaculation
Ejaculation is the ejecting of semen from the male reproductory tract, and is usually accompanied by orgasm. It is usually the final stage and natural objective of male sexual stimulation, and an essential component of natural conception. In rare cases ejaculation occurs because of prostatic disease...
on her underwear.
At the time of the hunt, four teenage girls, Maxine Buckley, Catherine Burke, Debbie Brown and Pamela Hind, claimed that Kiszko had indecently exposed
Indecent exposure
Indecent exposure is the deliberate exposure in public or in view of the general public by a person of a portion or portions of his or her body, in circumstances where the exposure is contrary to local moral or other standards of appropriate behavior. Indecent exposure laws vary in different...
himself to them the day before the murder. One of them also said he had exposed himself to her a month after the murder, on Bonfire night
Guy Fawkes Night
Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Guy Fawkes Day, Bonfire Night and Firework Night, is an annual commemoration observed on 5 November, primarily in England. Its history begins with the events of 5 November 1605, when Guy Fawkes, a member of the Gunpowder Plot, was arrested while guarding...
and that had been stalking her for some time previous to that. West Yorkshire Police
West Yorkshire Police
West Yorkshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing West Yorkshire in England. It is the fourth largest force in England and Wales by number of officers, with 5671 officers....
quickly formed the view that Kiszko fitted their profile of the sort of person likely to have killed Lesley Molseed even though he had never been in trouble with the law and had no social life beyond his mother and aunt. (His father Ivan had died of a heart attack, in the street, at Kiszko's feet, on 29 September 1970). Kiszko also had an unusual hobby of writing down registration numbers of cars that annoyed him, which supported police suspicions. The police now pursued evidence which might incriminate him, and ignored other leads that might have taken them in other directions.
Acting upon the teenage girls' information and their suspicions of Kiszko's idiosyncratic lifestyle—and having allegedly found girlie magazines and a bag of sweets in his car—the police arrested him on 21 December 1975. During questioning, the interviewing detectives seized upon every apparent inconsistency between his varying accounts of the relevant days as further demonstration of his likely guilt. Kiszko confessed to the crime after three days of intensive questioning. Prior to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act of 1984, suspects did not have the right to have a solicitor
Solicitor
Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...
present during interviews, and the police did not ask Kiszko if he wanted one. His request to have his mother present whilst he was being questioned was refused and, crucially, the police did not caution
Right to silence in England and Wales
The right to silence in England and Wales is the protection given to a person during criminal proceedings from adverse consequences of remaining silent. It is sometimes referred to as the privilege against self-incrimination...
him until long after they had decided he was the prime – indeed, only – suspect.
After admitting to the murder to police, Kiszko was charged with Molseed's murder on Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...
1975. When he entered Armley Jail
Leeds (HM Prison)
HM Prison Leeds is a Category B men's prison, in the Armley area of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England, which opened in 1847. Leeds Prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service, and is still known locally as Armley Gaol , the historical name for the prison.-History:Construction of Leeds Prison ...
, following his being charged, he was nicknamed "Oliver Laurel" because he had the girth of Oliver Hardy
Oliver Hardy
Oliver Hardy was an American comic actor famous as one half of Laurel and Hardy, the classic double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted nearly 30 years, from 1927 to 1955.-Early life:...
and the perplexed air of Oliver's comedy sidekick Stan Laurel
Stan Laurel
Arthur Stanley "Stan" Jefferson , better known as Stan Laurel, was an English comic actor, writer and film director, famous as the first half of the comedy team Laurel and Hardy. His film acting career stretched between 1917 and 1951 and included a starring role in the Academy Award winning film...
. Later, in the presence of a solicitor, Kiszko retracted his confession.
Kiszko was remanded until his murder trial, which began on 7 July 1976 under Sir Hugh Park
Hugh Park
Sir Hugh Park, was a Judge of the High Court, Queen's Bench Division. In 1976, he was the judge in the trial that convicted Stefan Kiszko of the murder of Lesley Molseed...
. He was defended by David Waddington
David Waddington, Baron Waddington
David Charles Waddington, Baron Waddington, GCVO, DL, QC, PC , is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons from 1968 to 1990, and was then made a life peer...
QC, who later became Home Secretary
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
. The prosecuting QC, Peter Taylor
Peter Taylor, Baron Taylor of Gosforth
Peter Murray Taylor, Baron Taylor of Gosforth PC was the Lord Chief Justice of England from 1992 until his premature retirement in 1996, due to poor health which led to his death the following year.-Family:...
, later became Lord Chief Justice the day after Kiszko was cleared of the murder in 1992. Taylor was most noted for his reports into the Hillsborough Disaster
Hillsborough disaster
The Hillsborough disaster was a human crush that occurred on 15 April 1989 at Hillsborough, a football stadium, the home of Sheffield Wednesday F.C. in Sheffield, England, resulting in the deaths of 96 people, and 766 being injured, all fans of Liverpool F.C....
at the Sheffield Wednesday FC football stadium at Hillsborough, Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
.
Poor defence
Kiszko's defence team made significant mistakes. Firstly, they did not seek an adjournment when the Crown delivered thousands of pages of additional unused material on the first morning of the trial.Then there was the inconsistent defence of diminished responsibility
Diminished responsibility
In criminal law, diminished responsibility is a potential defense by excuse by which defendants argue that although they broke the law, they should not be held fully criminally liable for doing so, as their mental functions were "diminished" or impaired. The defense's acceptance in American...
which Kiszko never authorised, on the grounds that the testosterone
Testosterone
Testosterone is a steroid hormone from the androgen group and is found in mammals, reptiles, birds, and other vertebrates. In mammals, testosterone is primarily secreted in the testes of males and the ovaries of females, although small amounts are also secreted by the adrenal glands...
he was receiving for his hypogonadism
Hypogonadism
Hypogonadism is a medical term for decreased functional activity of the gonads. Low testosterone is caused by a decline or deficiency in gonadal production of testosterone in males...
might have made him behave unusually. Kiszko's endocrinologist, if called, would have said that his treatment could not have caused him to act such a way that would make him carry out murder. He was never called.
The manslaughter
Manslaughter
Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...
claim undermined Kiszko's claims that he was totally innocent and destroyed his alibis (a defence known in legal parlance as 'riding two horses'). In fact, his innocence could have been demonstrated at the trial. The pathologist who examined Molseed's clothes found traces of sperm, whereas the sample taken from Kiszko by the police contained no sperm. There was medical evidence that Kiszko had broken his ankle some months before the murder and, in view of that and his being overweight, he would have found it difficult to scale the slope to the murder spot. The sperm findings were suppressed by the police and never disclosed to the defence team or the jury: neither was the medical evidence of his broken ankle disclosed to the court.
Kiszko gave evidence that in July 1975 he had had become ill and had been admitted to Birch Hill Hospital, where he was given a blood transfusion. In August he was transferred to a Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
hospital and diagnosed as being anaemic and having a hormone deficiency. He agreed to injections to rectify the latter problems and was discharged in September 1975. He said correctly that he had never met Molseed and therefore could never have murdered her and claimed he was with his Aunt tending to his father's grave in Halifax
Halifax, West Yorkshire
Halifax is a minster town, within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. It has an urban area population of 82,056 in the 2001 Census. It is well-known as a centre of England's woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward, originally dealing through the Halifax Piece...
at the time of the murder before visiting a garden centre and then going home. His denials of murder were not believed by most of the jury, nor were his claims that the confession was bullied out of him by the police. When asked why he had confessed, Kiszko replied that "I started to tell these lies and they seemed to please them and the pressure was off as far as I was concerned. I thought if I admitted what I did to the police they would check out what I had said, find it untrue and would then let me go".
His conviction was secured by a 10-2 majority verdict on 21 July 1976 at Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
Crown Court
Crown Court
The Crown Court of England and Wales is, together with the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal, one of the constituent parts of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
after five hours and 35 minutes deliberation. He was given a life sentence for committing Molseed's murder. The judge told praised the three girls, but Buckley in particular, who made the exposure claims for their "bravery and honesty" in giving evidence in court and "sharp observations". Pamela Hind's evidence was read out in court. Park said that Buckley's "Sharp eyes set this train of enquiry into motion". He also praised the police officers involved in the case "..for their great skill in bringing to justice the person responsible for this dreadful crime and their expertise in sifting through masses of material" and said that "I would like all the officers responsible for the result to be specially commended and these observations conveyed to the Chief Constable". DS John Akeroyd and DSupt Holland were singled out for praise.
Sheila Buckley, whose daughter Maxine played a major part in securing Kiszko's conviction, blasted the police for not arresting him earlier and told the Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
The Manchester Evening News is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in the United Kingdom. It is published every day except Sunday and is owned by Trinity Mirror plc following its sale by Guardian Media Group in early 2010. It has an average daily circulation of 90,973 copies...
that "Children are a lot safer now this monster
Monster
A monster is any fictional creature, usually found in legends or horror fiction, that is somewhat hideous and may produce physical harm or mental fear by either its appearance or its actions...
has been put away". She also demanded Kiszko's hanging. Even Albert Wright, Kiszko's solicitor, thought that his client was guilty, but that it was a case of diminished responsibility, and as a result, Kiszko should not have been convicted outright of murder.
Unsuccessful appeal
After a month in Armley prison, Kiszko was transferred to Wakefield Prison and immediately placed on Rule 43Nonce (slang)
In the United Kingdom and Australia, the term nonce is a slang word used to refer to a sex offender and/or child sexual abuser...
to protect him from other inmates as in the eyes of the law he was now a convicted sex offender
Sex offender
A sex offender is a person who has committed a sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and by legal jurisdiction. Most jurisdictions compile their laws into sections such as traffic, assault, sexual, etc. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convictions for crimes of a...
. Kiszko launched an appeal, but it was dismissed on 25 May 1978, when Lord Justice Bridge
Nigel Bridge, Baron Bridge of Harwich
Nigel Cyprian Bridge, Baron Bridge of Harwich PC was a British barrister and judge. Bridge was the presiding judge at the trial of the Birmingham six in 1975, the verdict of which was quashed by the Court of Appeal in 1991, and he later served as a Law Lord.-Early and private life:Bridge's father...
said "We can find no grounds whatsoever to condemn the jury's verdict of murder as in any way unsafe or unsatisfactory The appeal is dismissed".
Years in prison as a convicted child killer
After his conviction Kiszko was bitterly detested by the majority of inmates, receiving taunts and several death threats, both verbal and written. He was physically attacked four times during the first four and a half years of his sentence. The first time was on 24 August 1976, just after being transferred to Wakefield prison, when he was set upon by six prisoners who punched and kicked him repeatedly, cutting his mouth and injuring his leg. Guards had to pull the prisoners away to prevent further injury. When asked why they did it, the attackers replied that it was for "Lesley and her family". He was then attacked on 11 May 1977 by another inmate, who hit him over the head with a mop handle, leaving Kiszko in need of three stitches to a head wound. The next attack came 19 months later, in December 1978, when he was punched in the face by another prisoner in an unprovoked attack, whilst in the prison chapel. On each occasion, the attacks on Kiszko earned him little sympathy, amongst either other prisoners or guards, because of the crime for which he had been jailed.In March 1981 he was involved in a fight with another prisoner, when he was punched in an unprovoked attack, but this time Kiszko retaliated, and the two had to be separated by guards. They both were given a loss of privileges for 28 days. Kiszko was never physically attacked again during the remainder of his time in prison as he was better protected and was often in the hospital wing of prisons he was held in. When he wasn't, he was placed among less violent offenders.
From 1979 onwards, Kiszko developed schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
whilst in prison and began to suffer from delusions, one being that he was the victim of a plot to incarcerate an innocent tax-office employee so the effects of imprisonment would be tested on him. Over the next 11 years any of Kiszko's claims of innocence were labelled by prisons he was held in as symptoms of his schizophrenic delusions, or because they felt he was in a mental state of denial over the murder. One forensic psychiatrist
Forensic psychiatry
Forensic psychiatry is a sub-speciality of psychiatry and an auxiliar science of criminology. It encompasses the interface between law and psychiatry...
in prison made a note of Kiszko suffering from "delusions of innocence".
On 11 November 1981 Kiszko was transferred to Gloucester Prison and in April 1983 was told that he would only ever be eligible for parole if he admitted to having carried out the murder. If he continued to deny being a child killer, then he would spend the rest of his natural life behind bars, but this made no difference to Kiszko's stance. Thirteen months later, while still denying having carried out the murder, he was moved to Bristol Prison
Bristol (HM Prison)
HMP Bristol is a Category B men's prison, located in the Horfield area of Bristol. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.-History:...
. Such was his mental deterioration that a month later, in June 1984, it was recommended by a forensic psychiatrist that he should be moved to either Broadmoor
Broadmoor Hospital
Broadmoor Hospital is a high-security psychiatric hospital at Crowthorne in the Borough of Bracknell Forest in Berkshire, England. It is the best known of the three high-security psychiatric hospitals in England, the other two being Ashworth and Rampton...
, Park Lane (Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
), Rampton
Rampton Secure Hospital
Rampton Secure Hospital is a high security psychiatric hospital near the village of Woodbeck between Retford and Rampton in the Bassetlaw District of Nottinghamshire, England...
, or Ashworth
Ashworth Hospital
Ashworth Hospital is a high security psychiatric hospital at Maghull in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England.Ashworth is one of only three high-security specialist psychiatric hospitals in England and Wales, along with Rampton and Broadmoor, that exist to work with people who...
Hospitals, but nothing came of it. Six months later, in December 1984, Kiszko was returned to Wakefield prison.
In August 1987 he was transferred again from Wakefield to Grendon Underwood
Grendon Underwood
Grendon Underwood is a village and civil parish in Aylesbury Vale district in Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the west of the county, close to the boundary with Oxfordshire and near the Roman road Akeman Street....
Prison, where in 1988, the Governor tried to persuade Kiszko to enroll on a sex offenders' treatment programme, in which he would have had to admit having committed the rape and murder. Having done that, he would then discuss what motivated him. Kiszko refused to take part and repeatedly and persistently refused to "address his offending behaviour" on the grounds that he had done nothing that needed addressing. After this, he was left in Grendon Underwood until May 1989, when he was moved back to Wakefield Prison, and finally, on 15 March 1991 Kiszko was transferred to Ashworth Hospital
Ashworth Hospital
Ashworth Hospital is a high security psychiatric hospital at Maghull in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England.Ashworth is one of only three high-security specialist psychiatric hospitals in England and Wales, along with Rampton and Broadmoor, that exist to work with people who...
, under Section 47 of the Mental Health Act 1983
Mental Health Act 1983
The Mental Health Act 1983 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which applies to people in England and Wales. It covers the reception, care and treatment of mentally disordered persons, the management of their property and other related matters...
, after six months of delay, on the grounds of deteriorating mental health
Mental health
Mental health describes either a level of cognitive or emotional well-being or an absence of a mental disorder. From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and...
.
Case reopened
After eight years of being ignored and stonewalled by both politicians (including Margaret ThatcherMargaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
) and the legal system, in 1984 Kiszko's mother contacted JUSTICE
JUSTICE
JUSTICE is a human rights and law reform organisation based in the United Kingdom. It is the British section of the International Commission of Jurists, the international human rights organisation of lawyers devoted to the legal protection of human rights worldwide...
, the UK human rights organisation which at the time investigated many miscarriages of justice. Three years later, she was also then put in touch with solicitor Campbell Malone, who agreed to take a look at the case when it seemed almost certain that Kiszko would never be released.
Malone consulted Philip Clegg, who had been Waddington's junior at the July 1976 trial. Clegg had expressed his own doubts about the confession and conviction at the time, and over the next two years, Clegg and Malone prepared a petition to the Home Secretary
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
. The draft was finally ready to be sent on 26 October 1989. On the same day, by coincidence, a new Home Secretary was announced: David Waddington. Perhaps due to Waddington's delicate position in the matter, sixteen months passed before a police investigation into the conduct of the original trial began. Waddington resigned as Home Secretary in November 1990 to take up a peerage
Peerage
The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
and to serve as Leader of the House of Lords
Leader of the House of Lords
The Leader of the House of Lords is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom who is responsible for arranging government business in the House of Lords. The role is always held in combination with a formal Cabinet position, usually one of the sinecure offices of Lord President of the Council,...
. He was replaced by Kenneth Baker
Kenneth Baker
Kenneth Wilfred Baker, Baron Baker of Dorking, CH, PC , is a British politician, a former Conservative MP and a Life Member of the Tory Reform Group.-Early life:...
.
In February 1991 Campbell Malone, with the help of a private detective named Peter Jackson finally urged the Home Office to reopen the case, which was then referred back to the West Yorkshire Police
West Yorkshire Police
West Yorkshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing West Yorkshire in England. It is the fourth largest force in England and Wales by number of officers, with 5671 officers....
. Detective Superintendent Trevor Wilkinson was assigned to the job. He immediately found several glaring errors. Kiszko's innocence was demonstrated conclusively through medical evidence; he had male hypogonadism
Hypogonadism
Hypogonadism is a medical term for decreased functional activity of the gonads. Low testosterone is caused by a decline or deficiency in gonadal production of testosterone in males...
, which rendered him infertile, contradicting forensic evidence obtained at the time of the murder. In 1975 his testes had measured 4 to 5 mm, whereas the average male testicular size was 15 to 20 mm. During his research, Jackson found someone who said correctly that Kiszko had been seen with his aunt tending his father's grave. They said they couldn't understand why they hadn't been called to give evidence at the trial. Someone else said he was in a shop around the time of the murder.
Also in February 1991, the three females involved in the court trial admitted that the evidence they gave which led to Kiszko's arrest and conviction was false, and that they had lied for "a laugh" and because "At the time it was funny". Burke said she wished she hadn't said anything but refused to apologise, saying she didn't think it would have gone as far as it did. Buckley said it wasn't Kiszko who had exposed himself to her and hadn't been stalking them, but that they had seen a taxi driver (not Ronald Castree) urinating behind a bush on the day of Molseed's murder. She also refused to apologise. Brown refused to make a statement. Hind was the most remorseful of the four, and said what they did was "Foolish but we were young" and had she appeared in court, she would have told the truth about Kiszko and not perjured herself, unlike her friends, and that she also didn't think Kiszko would be convicted.
In August 1991, the new findings in Kiszko's case were referred to Kenneth Baker
Kenneth Baker
Kenneth Wilfred Baker, Baron Baker of Dorking, CH, PC , is a British politician, a former Conservative MP and a Life Member of the Tory Reform Group.-Early life:...
, who immediately passed them on to the Court of Appeal. On 8 January 1992, Kiszko was moved from Ashworth to Prestwich
Prestwich
Prestwich is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies close to the River Irwell, north of Manchester city centre, north of Salford and south of Bury....
Hospital.
Cleared of murder
Although he had been told in 1983 that he would only be eligible for parole if he admitted having murdered Lesley Molseed, the Home OfficeHome Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
apparently changed its view and, in February 1990, privately disclosed that Kiszko's first parole hearing would take place in December 1992, by which time he would have served 17 years in custody, but he would only be released if he could convince the Parole Board if he wouldn't be a danger if ever released and only if he admitted to having murdered Lesley Molseed.
However, ten months before his parole hearing, on 17 February 1992, the judicial investigation into Kiszko's conviction began. It was heard by three judges, Lord Lane, Mr. Justice Rose and Mr. Justice Potts. Present at the hearing were Franz Muller QC and William Boyce for the Crown, who were going to argue that Kiszko was guilty of murder and therefore must remain in prison custody for at least another ten months, and Stephen Sedley QC and Jim Gregory, to state that Kiszko was innocent. However, Muller and Boyce did not put up any contrary argument after hearing the new evidence from Sedley and Gregory, and immediately accepted its validity.
After hearing the new evidence, Lord Chief Justice Lane said: "It has been shown that this man cannot produce sperm. This man cannot have been the person responsible for ejaculating over the girl's knickers and skirt, and consequently cannot have been the murderer". Kiszko was cleared and Lane ordered his immediate release from prison custody. Anthony Beaumont-Dark
Anthony Beaumont-Dark
Sir Anthony Michael Beaumont-Dark was a British politician.He was a Conservative City Councillor for Birmingham from 1956 to 1967 and MP for the constituency of Birmingham Selly Oak from 1979 to 1992...
, a Conservative MP said, "This must be the worst miscarriage of justice of all time" and, like many others, demanded a full, independent and wide ranging inquiry into the conviction.
The 1976 trial judge Sir Hugh Park
Hugh Park
Sir Hugh Park, was a Judge of the High Court, Queen's Bench Division. In 1976, he was the judge in the trial that convicted Stefan Kiszko of the murder of Lesley Molseed...
, who had praised the police and the 13-year-old girls at the original trial for bringing Kiszko to justice, apologised for what had happened to Kiszko but said he wasn't sorry for how he had handled the court case. The Molseed family, who were convinced of Kiszko guilt up to the very moment of him being cleared, also publicly apologised for the things they had said after his conviction such as demanding that he be hanged in public. In 1976 Lesley Molseed's father, Fred Anderson, had hurled a volley of verbal abuse at Charlotte Kiszko outside the court after her son was convicted. Anderson had also told the media that he would be outside the prison gates waiting for Kiszko should he be ever released. In February 1992, Kiszko's mother said that it was David Waddington who ought to be "strung up" for his pro-capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
views and for the way he had handled her son's defence at the 1976 trial.
Despite the overwhelming and obvious evidence that Kiszko was innocent, the West Yorkshire police and Ronald Outteridge, the original forensic scientist, refused to apologise to Kiszko over his wrongful conviction. In 1991 Outteridge was angry when questioned over his role in the trial. Neither did David Waddington, Sheila Buckley, her daughter Maxine, Hind, Brown and Burke, whose perjured evidence helped convict Kiszko, or prosecution barrister Peter Taylor
Peter Taylor, Baron Taylor of Gosforth
Peter Murray Taylor, Baron Taylor of Gosforth PC was the Lord Chief Justice of England from 1992 until his premature retirement in 1996, due to poor health which led to his death the following year.-Family:...
offer any apology or expressed one word of regret for what had happened. All refused to comment when Kiszko was released. West Yorkshire Police even tried to justify its position they took in 1975 while accepting and admitting they were wrong.
Release and death
Kiszko needed further psychiatric treatment and continued to remain in Prestwich hospital though he was allowed home at weekends and occasionally during the week. He was finally allowed home fully in May 1992, three months after being cleared, but the years of incarceration for something he hadn't done had both mentally and emotionally destroyed him. Kiszko became a virtual recluseRecluse
A recluse is a person who lives in voluntary seclusion from the public and society, often close to nature. The word is from the Latin recludere, which means "shut up" or "sequester." There are many potential reasons for becoming a recluse: a personal philosophy that rejects consumer society; a...
and showed little interest in anything or anyone. He drove his car again on short journeys, but other people's apologies for what had happened, encouragement and support seemed to frighten him on the rare occasions he ventured out. His mental health had deteriorated over the years, now did his physical health; in October 1993 he was diagnosed as suffering from angina
Angina
Angina pectoris, commonly known as angina, is chest pain due to ischemia of the heart muscle, generally due to obstruction or spasm of the coronary arteries . Coronary artery disease, the main cause of angina, is due to atherosclerosis of the cardiac arteries...
.
Stefan Kiszko died of a massive heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
, in Rochdale
Rochdale
Rochdale is a large market town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the foothills of the Pennines on the River Roch, north-northwest of Oldham, and north-northeast of the city of Manchester. Rochdale is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan...
, Greater Manchester, on 23 December 1993, at home, 18 years and two days after he made the confession that helped lead to wrongful conviction for murder. He was 41 years old. Lesley Molseed's sister was one of those who attended his funeral two weeks later on 5 January 1994. His mother, Charlotte Hedwig Kiszko, died four months later, in Rochdale, on 3 May 1994, at the age of 70. The two are buried together in Rochdale Cemetery.
After release from prison Kiszko had been told he would receive £500,000 in compensation for the years spent in prison. He had received an interim payment, but neither he nor his mother ever received the full amount they were awarded, since both died before Kiszko was due to receive it.
A TV film adaptation of the tragic story of Stefan Kiszko was made in 1998, A Life for a Life, directed by Stephen Whittaker
Stephen Whittaker
Stephen Whittaker was a British actor and director. He worked largely in British film and television.In 2001 he filmed his final project The Rocket Post, a romantic drama set on a remote Scottish island...
, featuring Tony Maudsley
Tony Maudsley
Tony Maudsley is a British film actor who was cast as Grawp in the film Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. His career started when he landed a role in the film A Life for a Life in 1998 where he played the part of Stefan Kiszko to much acclaim...
as Kiszko and Olympia Dukakis
Olympia Dukakis
Olympia Dukakis is an American actress. In 1987, she won an Academy Award, BAFTA, and a Golden Globe for her performance in Moonstruck...
as his mother Charlotte. A documentary about the case, Real Crime: The 30 Year Secret, was broadcast by ITV1
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
on 29 September 2008.
Police cleared of any wrongdoing
In 1994 the surviving senior officer in charge of the original investigation Detective Superintendent Dick Holland and the forensic scientist who worked on the case Ronald Outteridge (retired), were formally charged with "doing acts tending to pervert the course of justice" by allegedly suppressing evidence against Kiszko, namely the results of scientific tests on semen taken from the victim's body and from the accused. On May DayMay Day
May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....
,
1995 the case was challenged by defence barristers, arguing that the case was an abuse of process and that charges should be stayed as the passage of time had made a fair trial impossible. The presiding magistrate agreed and as the case was never presented before a jury, the law regards the accused as presumed innocent.
Holland, who came to public prominence as a senior officer on the flawed investigation into the murders committed by the Yorkshire Ripper
Peter Sutcliffe
Peter William Sutcliffe is a British serial killer who was dubbed "The Yorkshire Ripper". In 1981 Sutcliffe was convicted of murdering 13 women and attacking seven others. He is currently serving 20 sentences of life imprisonment in Broadmoor Hospital...
, retired in 1988, at a time when he viewed the conviction of both Kiszko and of Judith Ward
Judith Ward
Judith Theresa Ward is a British woman known for being a victim of unsafe convictions in 1974 for the bombing of Euston Station in 1973, and of the National Defence College and M62 coach bombings in 1974. Her conviction was quashed and she was released from prison on 11 May 1992...
(In May 1992 her conviction was also viewed as unsafe by the High Court) as being among his finest hours during his 35 years in the police force. However, Holland was demoted during the Yorkshire Ripper inquiry four years after Kiszko's conviction. He died in February 2007 at the age of 74.
Castree's arrest and conviction
In February 2003 a television appeal for new information was made by McLean on the BBC CrimewatchCrimewatch
Crimewatch is a long-running and high-profile British television programme produced by the BBC, that reconstructs major unsolved crimes with a view to gaining information from the members of the public. The programme is usually broadcast once a month on BBC One...
programme, publicly announcing the existence of a DNA profile of the killer for the first time, but no new leads were forthcoming.
On Sunday 5 November 2006, it was announced that a 53-year-old man had been arrested in connection with the murder. DNA evidence was alleged to have shown a "direct hit" with a sample found at the scene of the murder. In 2000 forensic scientists had developed a ground-breaking technique especially for this investigation, allowing them to re-examine the tapings taken from the victim’s clothes. Ronald Castree
Ronald Castree
Ronald Castree is an English convicted murderer. He was convicted on 12 November 2007 of the murder of Lesley Molseed, who had died 32 years earlier....
of Shaw and Crompton
Shaw and Crompton
Shaw and Crompton is a town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the River Beal at the foothills of the South Pennines, north of Oldham, southeast of Rochdale, and to the northeast of the city of Manchester...
, Greater Manchester, was charged with the murder of Lesley Molseed and made his first court appearance on 7 November 2006 where he was remanded in custody. On 3 July 1976, Castree had been charged with a sexual assault on a nine year-old girl, less than mile from where Lesley Molseed had been abducted, and had that same night confessed this crime to his wife. Castree was duly arrested and charged, but was later fined only £25 for his crime at Rochdale Magistrate's Court.
On 1 October 2005 Castree was arrested for allegedly committing a violent rape against a prostitute in Oldham
Oldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amid the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers Irk and Medlock, south-southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of the city of Manchester...
. When arrested, his DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
was routinely taken. Although innocent of the offence, and later released without charge, the DNA matched that on sperm heads that had been left on Lesley Molseed's pants thirty years earlier. At a court hearing on 19 April 2007, Castree pleaded not guilty but on 23 April his application for bail was refused. Castree's trial began at Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
Crown Court on 22 October 2007. and on 12 November Castree was found guilty. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 30 years. Ronald Castree was found guilty of Molseed's murder by a 10-2 majority.
Outteridge, having not been charged over Kiszko's wrongful conviction, gave evidence at the trial of Castree. The West Yorkshire Police finally apologised for Kiszko's wrongful arrest and imprisonment, on the day the Castree verdict was announced, when Detective Chief Superintendent Max McLean said of Kiszko's wrongful imprisonment: "We are very sorry. I think everybody regrets enormously what happened to Stefan Kiszko. It was a dreadful miscarriage of justice. I am so pleased that today we have finally put things right."
See also
- Murder of Teresa de SimoneMurder of Teresa de SimoneThe murder of Teresa de Simone was committed in Southampton, England, in 1979 and led to one of the longest proven cases of a miscarriage of justice in British legal history. The murder occurred outside the Tom Tackle pub and was the subject of a three-year police investigation which resulted in...
- Murder of Linda CookMurder of Linda CookThe murder of Linda Cook was committed in Portsmouth on 9 December 1986. The subsequent trial led to a miscarriage of justice when Michael Shirley, an 18 year-old Royal Navy sailor, was wrongly convicted of the crime and sentenced to life imprisonment...
- Murder of Wendy Sewell
- List of miscarriage of justice cases