Stefan Kiszko

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Stefan Kiszko was convicted of the rape and murder of 11 year old Lesley Molseed. Shortly after Molseed was killed, four teenage girls came forward and accused Kiscko of exposing himself to them the day before the murder. Although he had never been in trouble before, Kiszko had an unusual hobby, noting down number plates. He jotted down the number of one car which had been seen at the crime scene, which further roused suspicion of him. The police arrested Kiszko. After three days of intensive questioning he confessed to the crime (he later claimed he had been bullied into making the confession). He did not have a lawyer present and was not asked if he wanted one and his requests for his mother to be present were denied. Kiszko had the mental age of a seven year old. At trial his defence lawyer ran a diminished responsibility defence which badly failed Kiszko as he maintained he had never committed the offence and had never met Lesley. On appeal, evidence showed that material left on the victim’s body could not be from Kiszko (due to an illness which rendered him impotent) and the four girls who said Kiszko had exposed themselves admitted they had made it up “for a laugh.” He was psychologically damaged by his time in prison, and died of a heart attack the year after he was released. More than 30 years after Leslie was killed, the real killer, Ronald Castree, was caught as a result of his DNA sample matching the semen found on Lesley’s clothes.

View Press (www.manchestersfinest.com)

View Press (www.theguardian.com)

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