The News of the World
Amanda Revell Walton
A ruthless sex fiend and suspected child killer is in hiding in Ireland after dodging cops who had been tracking him for years. Detectives want to question paedophile Raymond Hewlett, 55, in connection with a series of attempts to abduct children in the Republic. Hewlett has a string of convictions for kidnapping, raping and indecently assaulting young girls. He is also the main suspect for the murder of 11-year-old schoolgirl Lesley Molseed who was molested and then stabbed to death on Britain's Yorkshire moors 25 years ago.
Totally innocent Stefan Kiszko was jailed for life for the killing and served 16 years before his conviction was quashed in 1992. He died of a heart attack a year later. His mother, who had campaigned ceaselessly to clear his name, died six months after that.
A subsequent investigation pinpointed Hewlett as the child's killer. And a book, Innocents, by retired British police chief Trevor Wilkinson, named him as the murderer.
Quizzed
In 1993, Hewlett - a father of eight - turned up in Ireland for the first time after fleeing from Britain where detectives were watching him. He had been quizzed about Lesley's killing while doing a prison stretch, arrested on his release on suspicion of murder then freed through lack of evidence.
Hewlett was eventually discovered hiding out in a cottage in Co Donegal with a 21-year-old German girlfriend. He was claiming social security benefits and doing odd jobs.
When he realised the gardai in Donegal were closely monitoring his movements he moved with his lover to Dromtacker, a quiet suburb one mile from Tralee, in Co Kerry. They camped in a tent outside Little River hostel. Two detectives called to check on him. The paedophile and his girlfriend fled after two days. Locals complained the gardai had failed to warn them he was in the village, near families with young children. One woman said she'd seen him chatting up girls of 19 and 20 - and asking them about younger members of their family.
Blackpool-born Hewlett's record was spelled out in a circular distributed to garda stations in the south west of Ireland. It warned he was a danger to children and should be kept under observation.
In December, 1998, the Irish News of the World tracked Hewlett to an isolated cottage in the Cooley Mountains, nearby Carlingford, Co Louth. He had been luring youngsters to the cottage by pretending to be a maths teacher who could help them with their homework. Although none of them ever came to any known harm, the revelation that Hewlett was a convicted paedophile sent a shudder through the tiny community.
Gardai have tracked Hewlett across nine counties, and he is believed to have tried to lure children into his car. In the last two years he has been sighted in Dublin, Kildare, Louth, Laois and Westmeath. He was last spotted in Enniskillen. Police say they don't know where is now.
Hewlett was first jailed in 1972, for abducting and raping a neighbour's 12-year-old daughter. He was sentenced to just 18 MONTHS and was released after serving 12.
In 1978 he got four years for trying to rape a 14-year-old at gunpoint. But after serving only 16 months, he was allowed out again to prey on other innocent children.
On New Year's Day, 1988, he kidnapped a 14-year-old girl doing her paper round in Northwich, Cheshire. He drove her 50 miles to a quarry in Llangollen, North Wales, where he stripped her and molested her.
He was described at Mold Crown Court as "highly dangerous." A judge sentenced him to just six years and he was on the streets again in five.
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