A MAN, aged 53, was remanded in custody charged with the murder of a schoolgirl who disappeared more than 30 years ago.

Ronald Castree, of Brandon Crescent, Shaw, Oldham, Greater Manchester, appeared at Calderdale Magistrates' Court in Halifax, charged with murdering Lesley Molseed between October 4 and October 9, 1975.

The 11-year-old disappeared on October 5, 1975 after leaving her home in Delamere Road, Rochdale, Greater Manchester, to run an errand for her mother.

Three days later her body was discovered on open moorland above the A672 Oldham to Halifax Road in Ripponden, West Yorkshire.

She had been stabbed 12 times.

Chair of the bench Steve Jenkinson remanded Castree in custody to appear before Bradford Crown Court on November 14.

During the brief hearing, members of Lesley's family shook their heads and cried in court as they heard legal arguments about the case.

Castree, who wore a blue open-necked shirt when he appeared in the dock alongside two security guards, spoke only to confirm his name, age, address and that he understood the charge.

A major investigation followed in which nearly 5,000 statements were taken and more than 12,000 people spoken to in the first three months.

Then 26-year-old Stefan Kiszko, a tax clerk from Rochdale, was arrested, tried and convicted of Lesley's murder, but Mr Kiszko was the subject of a miscarriage of justice.

He spent 16 years in prison before finally being released following an appeal, but he died shortly afterwards.

The investigation was reopened and featured on the BBC's Crimewatch programme in February 2003.

At the time West Yorkshire Police vowed to keep the murder investigation open until the youngster's killer had been found.