Lesley Molseed was just 11 when, on October 5, 1975, she was sent to the shop close to her home in Turf Hill, Rochdale, to buy a loaf of bread for her mum.
She never made it home, her body being found three days later facedown on moorland between Oldham and Ripponden, around 40 yards from the A672. The little girl had been stabbed 12 times and sexually assaulted. Her death sent shockwaves through the community and sparked a huge manhunt, led by West Yorkshire Police.
Stefan Kiszko was 23, a vulnerable man with learning difficulties, when the accusations started coming in. He lived near Lesley and, in the minds of detectives, was the kind of man who might fit the profile of the killer.
A timid and teetotal tax clerk and church-goer, Mr Kiszko was arrested after three girls told police he had indecently exposed himself to them just days before Lesley was found dead. It was the start of one of the worst miscarriages of justice in UK history - which is about to be shown in fresh detail in a new documentary, airing this evening (May 23).
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Mr Kiszko had never been in trouble with police before. But his unusual hobby of noting down number plates - he had jotted down the number of one car which had been seen near the crime scene - roused further suspicion of this 'odd' man.
After two days of relentless questioning by West Yorkshire detectives with no solicitor present to help him, Mr Kiszko, who had the mental age of a 12-year-old, 'confessed' to Lesley's murder. He had been told he could go home if he did.
He later claimed he had been bullied into making the confession. On Christmas Eve 1975 he was charged with Lesley's murder.
Stefan was convicted after a trial at Leeds Crown Court amid a slew of mistakes, as reported by the Manchester Evening News. The defence failed to call key witnesses and to call for an adjournment when thousands of pages of additional material were submitted on the first morning of the trial - meanwhile evidence was suppressed by police and not disclosed to the defence or the jury.
On July 21, 1976, after five hours and 32 minutes deliberation, the jury found Mr Kiszko guilty of murder by a majority of 10 to two. He was given a life sentence and went on to serve 16 years in prison, during which time he was repeatedly attacked by other inmates who saw him as a convicted sex offender.
On one occasion he needed 17 stitches for a head wound and he went on to develop schizophrenia. But throughout his incarceration, Mr Kiszko's remarkable mother Charlotte protested his innocence and fought for his release.
Her campaign was to be successful, although it took 16 long and lonely years before her son walked free. It was, according to Tory MP Anthony Beaumont-Dark, 'the worst miscarriage of all time'.
In March 1991, a police investigation into the original trial began, which discovered errors in the case. Evidence which might have established Mr Kiszko's innocence at the outset was uncovered.
It was established that Mr Kiszko could not have been the killer as he was infertile. Semen discovered on Lesley's clothing had contained heads of sperm. The girls who had told the trial that Mr Kiszko had exposed himself to them finally admitted they had lied.
In February 1992 Mr Kiszko was cleared and released from prison. But tragically none of Mr Kiszko's dreams of travelling the world after being freed came to pass - he died the following year of a massive heart attack aged just 41.
Four months later his mother died and the pair are buried together in Rochdale Cemetery.
It was to be another 12 years before justice finally caught up with the real killer, Ronald Castree, who was found out by advances in DNA technology. Castree was thought to have been on the way to visit his wife and newborn son in hospital, when he snatched Lesley off street in his taxi - and lived a lie as he sat back while Stefan suffered.
Now, Stefan’s case is being raised again in a pair of episodes created by TV channel CBS Reality. The final tragic case examined in the Wrongly Accused series is that of Stefan’s.
The first episode was broadcast earlier this month, with a recap starting at 9pm, examines the original investigation which led to the innocent victim being accused. The hour-long finale episode, premiering at 10pm, will investigate the evidence that eventually caught the real murderer, looking at the mistakes made and the consequences of a killer walking free.
The documentary includes new interviews, including the murderer’s son. “Following a series of appeals, forensic evidence proved that Kiszko could never have committed the murder and that he had been convicted as part of a seriously flawed police investigation,” says a spokesperson for CBS Reality.
“In a devastating interview, the murderer’s son, Nick Castree, reveals the story of a man who destroyed the lives of everyone he met – including his own family.”
CBS Reality is available on 143 for Sky Digital, 148 for Virgin Media, 67 for Freeview, and 135 for Freesat viewers. The episodes will be available on the CBS Reality catch up player.
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