Elsie Frost murder: Pensioner re-arrested over 1965 killing of West Yorkshire schoolgirl

Police investigating the killing of West Yorkshire schoolgirl Elsie Frost in 1965 have re-arrested a 79-year-old man on suspicion of her murder.

The 14-year-old was stabbed to death on a canal towpath in Wakefield, on 9 October.

Nobody has been convicted over her death, with the case remaining unsolved for more than 50 years.

The arrested man is understood to be Peter Pickering, who was first questioned in connection with the killing in 2016.

He is also being questioned in relation to an unconnected allegation of a rape and kidnap dating back to 1972, West Yorkshire Police said.

A police spokesman said on Monday (6 March) the pensioner had been taken to a police station in the Thames Valley area where he will be interviewed by murder detectives.

It comes after the investigation into Frost's murder was reopened in 2015 when new lines of inquiry emerged.

The schoolgirl was stabbed to death while walking along a towpath near the Calder and Hebble Canal.

The teenager was understood to have been watching friends sail on what is now Horbury Lagoon before leaving at around 3.50pm.

While entering the towpath, which now leads onto Monckton Road, she was attacked from behind and stabbed in the back and in the head. She also suffered a knife wound to the hand in what is believed to be an attempt to defend herself from the attack.

Her body was found at the foot of a set of railway service steps by a dog walker at about 4.15pm.

At the time of the re-opening of the case, lead investigator Detective Chief Inspector Elizabeth Belton said: "Elsie's death may be many decades ago, but the pain of her loss remains as fresh as ever for her brother Colin and sister Anne.

"Her brutal murder shattered their family and with such a significant anniversary near, I would ask anyone who may not have come forward then, for whatever reason, to do so now and provide them with answers."