Detective: ‘No doubt’ over cold case review

A detective who carried out a cold case review of the murder of schoolgirl Elsie Frost has told an inquest he is in “no doubt” that she was killed by a convicted rapist and murderer known as the Beast of Wombwell.

Detective Chief Superintendent Nick Wallen, of West Yorkshire Police, was giving evidence at a new inquest being held into Elsie’s death after her brother and sister successfully campaigned for a fresh review.

No-one has ever been prosecuted for the murder of the 14-year-old in 1965 but the West Yorkshire force revealed that they were close to charging convicted rapist and murderer Peter Pickering at the time of his death in March last year.

The inquest, at Wakefield Coroner’s Court, heard yesterday that Pickering was quickly identified as a person of interest when the case was reopened in 2015 as he had been flagged up as a “likely suspect” just days after the murder.

Mr Wallen said: “I am in no doubt that Peter Pickering is responsible for Elsie’s murder.”

The detective told the inquest that Pickering repeatedly denied murdering the schoolgirl – including sending them a letter which said: “I was not there, it was not me” – but he believed the evidence against Pickering was compelling.

Mr Wallen told the inquest that Pickering claimed to be in France or Brighton at the time of Elsie’s murder, but later changed his story to say that he was ill in bed with pneumonia – an alibi he had used before.

He said the force interviewed Pickering at the secure hospital where he had been held since pleading guilty to murdering 14-year-old Shirley Boldy in Barnsley in 1972 and afterwards he re-enacted a murder to a hospital worker.

14-year-old Elsie Frost and Peter Pickering