Police re-arrest man, 79, over unsolved Elsie Frost murder

A MAN aged 79 has been re-arrested on suspicion of the notorious murder of a schoolgirl more than 50 years ago, after a BBC podcast series put pressure on police to reopen the case.

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

Police renewed efforts to find her killer in 2015 with a fresh round of publicity, and received new information.

The suspect, who has been named in reports as Peter Pickering, was arrested in September last year and later bailed. A major inquiry was launched after Elsie’s body was found at the bottom of a flight of steps by a dog walker, and hundreds of people were interviewed, but her killer has evaded justice ever since.

The renewed police inquiry was triggered by a BBC Radio 4 investigation into the case.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said: “Following continued inquiries into the murder of 14-year-old Elsie Frost, who was discovered stabbed to death in Horbury, Wakefield, West Yorkshire on October 9 1965, West Yorkshire Police have today rearrested a 79-year-old man on suspicion of her murder.”

He said the arrested man had been taken to a police station within the Thames Valley force area where he would be interviewed by detectives from West Yorkshire Police’s homicide and major inquiry team.

In the wake of the new police appeal, Elsie’s brother, Colin Frost, spoke out about her family’s pain, saying their parents, Edith and Arthur, had died “with a huge amount of guilt”.

Mr Frost said Elsie had been like a mother to him, adding: “She was just a sweet, sweet person. She was lovely.”