Police’s frantic last-ditch bid to snare murderer
POLICE GRILLED ailing childkiller Peter Pickering repeatedly in an attempt to secure a confession for a murder which had remained unsolved for more than half a century.
Pickering, the so-called ‘Beast of Wombwell’ who died on Saturday, had become the prime suspect in the 1965 murder of Wakefield teenager Elsie Frost and had taken part in a “series of traumatic interviews” with cold-case detectives as they battled to find the killer who had eluded them for so long, it can be revealed.
Police had submitted a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service in January and were expecting Pickering to be charged with Elsie’s murder.
But his death at 80 has now robbed Elsie’s family of the justice they had sought for decades.
Pickering’s grilling by detectives over Elsie’s death was on top of 17 police interviews he had in 2017 over the violent rape of an 18-year-old woman in South Yorkshire in 1972 – a crime he was convicted of just last week and for which he was awaiting sentence.
Details of the police interviews came to light as the ageing killer stood trial for the rape of the 18-year-old this month.
Pickering, who had been held in secure psychiatric accommodation for more than 45 years after admitting to killing 14-yearold schoolgirl Shirley Boldy in 1972, appeared at the trial via video link from a secure facility in Berkshire because of his failing health.
The court heard that he had suffered a heart attack and deep vein thrombosis and would have struggled to get to court each day.
But the prosecution objected to the video link, with Michelle Colbourne QC saying Pickering had been fit enough to take part in 17 interviews during 2017 in relation to the rape and false imprisonment charges.
She added that Pickering had also taken part in a “series of traumatic interviews” with cold-case murder detectives in relation to the Elsie Frost murder.
She said: “He has demonstrated a capacity to not have ill effects over what must have been a very gruelling series of interviews talking about a previous murder and this rape and he has managed it.”
South Yorkshire Police had also been treating Pickering as a person of interest in the 1964 murder of 13-year-old Anne Dunwell in Maltby, near Rotherham.
Elsie’s brother Colin Frost said he suspected Pickering could be responsible for more crimes.
He said: “If you’re asking my opinion, there are other offences. I couldn’t say whether it’s another rape, another kidnap, another murder. The suspicion at the back of my mind is that it’s all of them.”
Both West Yorkshire Police and South Yorkshire Police yesterday told that Pickering was not currently being treated as a suspect in any more cold cases.
Pickering was made the subject of a hospital order in 1972, after admitting to the manslaughter and rape of Shirley Boldy on the grounds of diminished responsibility.