Pensioner released in Elsie Frost murder investigation

West Yorkshire Police’s Homicide and Major Enquiry Team (HMET) arrested and questioned a 78-year-old man in Newbury, Berkshire on Tuesday, more than 50 years after she was killed.

The force bailed him into “secure custody” on Wednesday night.

Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Superintendent Nick Wallen of HMET, said: “We have now bailed a man arrested on Tuesday, pending further enquiries.

“Our investigations into Elsie’s murder remain very much ongoing.”

Elsie was 14-years-old when she was attacked on the afternoon of October 9, 1965, as she made her way home on a towpath next to the Calder and Hebble Canal in Wakefield.

While entering a railway tunnel, just off the canal towpath, she was approached from behind and received stab wounds to her back and head.

Her body was found at the bottom of the ABC railway steps by a dog walker at around 4.15pm.

A major investigation was launched but her killer was never caught.

Police started a re-investigation into the case on the 50th anniversary of her death last year.

Detective Superintendent Wallen said: “The response we have received from the public since launching the re-investigation is a testament to their dedication and to the strength of feeling Elsie’s murder continues to generate in the local community in Wakefield.”