Molseed killer to challenge conviction

Reporter: Jan Harwood
Date online: 07/07/2008

The man who murdered 11-year-old Rochdale girl Lesley Molseed in 1975 has been permitted to challenge his conviction.

Ronald Castree, 54, is serving a life sentence having been convicted of murder in November last year. He was found guilty of abducting, killing and dumping Lesley Molseed's body on Rishworth Moor.

Castree was told by Mr Justice Openshaw, when jailing him, that he must serve a minimum of thirty years in prison.

Castree's legal team has appealed the conviction and his case will be heard in London's Appeal Court on 29 July. His lawyer's will challenge the conviction and the length of sentence. They are expected to argue that it is 'overwhelmingly probable' that the killer is convicted paedophile Raymond Hewlett, who was investigated over Molseed's murder in 1988, while he was serving a jail term for a sexual offence.

Tax clerk Stefan Kiszko was wrongly imprisoned for the murder for 16 years. His conviction was quashed in 1992.