Mother faces child murder accused

A MOTHER came face to face in court yesterday with the man accused of murdering her 11-year-old daughter in a frenzied sex attack more than 30 years ago.

Mother-of-four April Garrett told a jury of her “enchanting” girl Lesley Molseed as the man on trial for the youngster’s abduction and murder watched from the dock.

Ronald Castree, 54, is accused of snatching the youngster from a street near her home in Rochdale as she ran an errand for her mother, Bradford Crown Court heard.

It is alleged he drove her up to a “lonely scene” on the moors, where he sexually assaulted his victim before carrying out a “frenzied attack”, stabbing her 12 times before she was left for dead.

Her body was found three days later, on October 8, 1975.

An innocent man, Stefan Kiszko, was later convicted of the murder, and spent 16 years in jail for a crime he did not commit, the court heard.

Castree, from Shaw, Oldham, remained a free man — until advances in science led police to match his DNA with semen left on the dead girl, prosecutors said.

Ms Garrett described her daughter as “very dainty” — Lesley had been born with a heart defect, and was small for her age, weighing only three stone and about 4ft tall. But she had “fight”, and underwent open heart surgery.

Lesley had left the house to buy bread and was not seen alive again.

The trial was adjourned until today.