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Child killer’s fight to win his freedom

14/ 5/2008

THE man found guilty of the murder of schoolgirl Lesley Molseed more than 30 years ago is to launch an appeal against both his conviction and sentence.

Ronald Castree, from Shaw, was jailed for life in November and told he must serve a minimum of 30 years for the murder of the 11-year-old in 1975.

But now his legal team is preparing to launch appeal proceedings in a bid to get the conviction quashed.

A judge has already refused leave to appeal once but Castree’s solicitors believe they have a valid argument and are set to try again.

His solictor Riyaz Shaikh said: "We are appealing the conviction on the grounds of the safety of the DNA evidence. This is not a knee-jerk reaction. I have sat down with my team and gone through the evidence and we feel we have an arguable case."
Permission to appeal against the length of sentence has already been granted.

A spokeswoman for the Crown Prosecution Service said: "A judge has granted leave to appeal against the sentence but refused leave to appeal against the conviction. The victim’s family have been informed."

Castree, 54, formerly of Brandon Crescent, Shaw, was sentenced following a 12-day trial at Bradford Crown Court.

His conviction marked the end of one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history.

He abducted the Rochdale schoolgirl on October 5 1975 when she was on an errand to the local shops for her mother. He forced her into his car and drove her to Rishworth Moor near Halifax where he sexually assaulted her and stabbed her 12 times.  Her body was found three days later.

But the former taxi driver was able to live the life of a free man for more than 30 years after ‘gentle giant’ Stefan Kiszko was wrongly convicted of the murder.

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 semen left behind on the little girl’s clothes.

Stefan died a broken man at the age of 41 just before Christmas 1993.