Rochdale Observer
Paedophile Raymond Hewlett was the man many wrongly believed had killed Lesley Molseed. The 30-year-old from Todmorden was married, but having an affair with a 15-year-old at the time of the murder. A day after Lesley’s body was found, he fled to Ireland with the teenager, telling her they had to avoid the police.
Three years earlier, in September 1972, he had abducted a 12-year-old girl on her way to school. He drove her to the moors 10 miles from Todmorden, forced her to lose consciousness by putting a rag covered in paint thinner over her face, then sexually assaulted her.
In another attack in 1978 he went into the house of someone he knew while their daughter was alone at home. Armed with a gun he tried to strip her, but fled when she told him a visitor was expected at any moment. In 1988 in Mold he kidnapped and indecently assaulted a 14-year-old girl.
When police reinvestigated Lesley’s murder it was obvious that he would become a suspect.
They spoke to witnesses who had seen what looked like his van in the layby off the A672 near to where Lesley’s body was found. It was where he used to take his teenage girlfriend to have sex. They also interviewed convicts he was in jail with when he was questioned about Lesley’s killing.
All said he had disguised the issue, saying he was being interviewed about killing a woman rather than a child, but one said he had admitted to killing her. Another said he had mentioned having sex with someone called Lesley. But DNA evidence from Lesley’s clothing excluded Hewlett from the murder.
After being questioned and released, Hewlett didn’t stay in Todmorden. Police say they do not know where he is, but that he was last known to be in Spain.
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