Family to fight on for truth about schoolgirl’s murderer

THE FAMILY of a Yorkshire schoolgirl who was murdered in the 1960s say they will continue their fight to “get the truth out there” despite the recent death of the prime suspect.

Elsie Frost, 14, was stabbed in the back and head as she walked through a railway tunnel just off a canal towpath in Wakefield in October 1965.

Detectives had expected to charge Peter Pickering, also known as the Beast of Wombwell, after renewed appeals yielded fresh leads. But the 80-year-old child killer and sex offender died in March in a secure psychiatric unit after decades behind bars.

Colin Frost, Elsie’s brother, said the family was working with police and Wakefield MP Mary Creagh to see if there was a way to have the inquest into Elsie’s death reopened.

“What we’re wanting to do is get the truth out so everyone is fully aware of Pickering’s crimes,” he said. “We do still have the feeling of being cheated out of justice but what we do see is he probably wasn’t up to standing the rigours of a murder trial.”

He said he believed they might be setting new ground if successful and it could help other families in historic murder cases.

“We’ve still got hope,” he said. “Hope of getting the story out there, for everybody to understand the crimes of Peter Pickering, and then we might be able to link him to Elsie’s murder in the correct way. In short, we’re continuing the fight.”

Pickering was jailed for life over the killing of 14-year-old Shirley Boldy in 1972. Shortly before his death, he had been convicted of the knifepoint rape of an 18-year-old woman during the weeks before Shirley’s murder.