Pensioner arrested on suspicion of murdering 14-year-old Elsie Frost more than 50 years ago

Police investigating the unsolved murder of a teenage girl more than 50 years ago have arrested a man after the case was reopened following new lines of enquiry. Elsie Frost was 14 years old when she was stabbed to death while walking along a towpath near the Calder and Hebble Canal in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, in October 1965.

While entering the towpath, which now leads on to Monckton Road, she was attacked from behind and stabbed in the back and twice in the head. She also suffered a knife wound to the hand in what is believed to have been an attempt to defend herself. Her body was found at bottom of the ABC railway service steps by a dog walker.

As part of the new investigation into her death, police now want to speak to a man who was riding a bike, wearing a white lab coat who could have been a "delivery boy, butcher or abattoir worker" who was spotted near the murder scene on the afternoon she died.

Officers from West Yorkshire Police's Homicide and Major Enquiry Team (HMET) have now arrested a 78-year-old man in the Berkshire area on suspicion of murder. He is currently being held in custody for questioning.

Detective Superintendent Nick Wallen, senior investigating officer in the case, said: "A reinvestigation 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 enquiry which officers have been progressing ever since.

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

Wallen added: "Elsie's brother and sister have been kept fully apprised of the progress of the enquiry and I wish to commend them for their perseverance and that of members of the media in continuing to campaign for her and to put this case back in the public domain."

"The response we have received from the public since launching the reinvestigation is a testament to their dedication and to the strength of feeling Elsie's murder continues to generate in the local community in Wakefield."