Mother of Lesley Molseed dies

April Garrett, the mother of murdered schoolgirl Lesley Molseed has died aged 76.

April died on 7 March at Springhill Hospice after spending the later years of her life living in a sheltered housing complex in Littleborough.

Her funeral took place on Monday 17 March at Rochdale Crematorium.

She is survived by daughters Julie and Laura, eight grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

Before her death, April waited 32 years to see her daughter’s killer brought to justice.

Lesley, 11, was snatched from a street near her home on Turf Hill Road on 5 October 1975. Her body was found three days later on Rishworth Moor. She had been abused and stabbed numerous times.

In 1976, Stefan Kiszko was wrongly convicted of Lesley’s murder. He served 16 years in prison before he was cleared in 1991 when it emerged that samples taken from Lesley’s clothing could not have been his as he was infertile. He died a year later.

The case was then re-opened and in 2000, forensic scientists used new techniques to produce a DNA profile of Lesley’s killer.

In 2006, Ronald Castree, who had previously given a sample after being arrested for another matter, was a one in a billion match.

He was found guilty of the murder in November 2007 and was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 30 years.