Police officers investigating the murder of a schoolgirl who died more than 50 years ago have arrested a man in his 70s.

Elsie Frost, a 14-year-old school prefect, was walking alongside a canal towpath in her bright red jacket, floral skirt and new shoes when she was stabbed in her back and head on 9 October 1965.

A new investigation into Elsie’s murder was launched in 2015 by West Yorkshire police, involving a team of 14 police officers who examined thousands of pages of written evidence.

On Tuesday, officers from the force’s homicide and major inquiry team arrested a 78-year-old man in Berkshire – named locally as Peter Pickering – on suspicion of her murder. He is now in custody at a police station in the Thames Valley and will be questioned by West Yorkshire officers.

Although Elsie was murdered more than half a century ago her family never gave up hope of finding her killer.



The horrific events that Saturday afternoon in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, left scars on the close-knit community: Elsie’s parents, railway worker Arthur and his wife, Edith, died without seeing anyone brought to justice for their youngest daughter’s murder.



But last year the case was reopened when her siblings 69-year-old Anne Cleave, who was 18 at the time of the murder, and 58-year-old Colin, who was six, contacted the media calling for a fresh investigation.

Elsie’s sister said the family would continue to push for justice. “It has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride. We were aware that there had been mistakes in the early days, but the police have worked really hard on our behalf to get this far in the past year,” she said.

“You are never quite aware what you will feel like when these announcements are made. We have both felt queasy and a bit stressed when we found out about the arrest. The bigger step will come if he is charged.”

While the family did not know how the case would develop, she added that the police had been “amazing” at keeping them informed.

“When you have got something you are looking for, and that’s justice, then you have to keep pushing for it. We want justice for Elsie.”

Speaking about the new arrest, Detective Superintendent Nick Wallen, senior investigating officer, said: “A re-investigation into Elsie’s murder was launched in 2015 by West Yorkshire police, backed by a publicity campaign on the 50th anniversary of her death.

“Since then we have received significant numbers of calls and emails from members of the public offering new information, and have generated new lines of inquiry which officers have been progressing ever since.

“Following those inquiries we have now arrested a 78-year-old man in the Berkshire area and will be interviewing him under caution to progress our investigation.”

Colin Frost told the BBC: “As a family, we’re very pleased. All we wanted was to be taken seriously.

“We were aware that mistakes were made in 1965, but we’ve been impressed with the commitment of West Yorkshire police in the reinvestigation – the number of officers involved, the number of agencies involved.

“We wanted the investigation to be reopened and that’s what we’ve achieved.”

On the day of her death, Elsie had gone to watch her friends learn to sail at a water-filled gravel pit known as Millfield lagoon near her home in the suburban area of Lupset, on the south side of Wakefield.

According to one version of events, she chose a different route home to her friends along the towpath to avoid getting her new shoes muddy. As she entered a 30ft tunnel beneath a railway embankment she was struck from behind and stabbed.

A post-mortem examination found she had been stabbed five times – twice in the back, twice in the head, once through the hand – with the fatal blow piercing her heart.

Despite her terrible injuries, Elsie managed to stumble through the tunnel to the bottom of what locals called the “ABC steps”; a steep flight of 26 steps up to the main road.

She was found dying at the bottom of the steps by a local man, Thomas Brown.

Brown, who had taken his three-year-old daughter, Beverley, five-year-old son, Martin, and their dog Pip for a walk, saw Elsie face down and assumed she had fallen down the stairs.

Within minutes, others appeared on the scene and waited with her body while Brown ran to call for an ambulance and the police. They included lock-keeper Ralph Brewster and John Blackburn, one of the sailing instructors from the lagoon.

Back at Elsie’s home in Manor Haigh Road, her parents received a visit from the police, who informed them that their daughter had died.

A clear motive was never established by police. The pathologist who examined the Snapethorpe high school pupil’s body gave the cause of death as “shock and haemorrhage due to multiple stab wounds”.

The hunt for the killer made national news for weeks. West Yorkshire police combed the area for clues and divers searched the river and lagoons for the murder weapon. Scotland Yard detectives joined the investigation.

Police officers went from door to door interviewing every man living in the area. About 12,000 men were questioned by police, including members of her own family.

While the police investigation continued, an inquest was opened and adjourned by the Leeds and Wakefield coroner, Philip Gill.

One arrest was made at the time of the murder, but a judge cleared Ian Bernard Spencer, who was 33 at the time, of any involvement.