TIMELINE
Raymond Hewlett
Early Years - 1945 - 1970
1945 - January 24, 1945 Raymond Hewlett born in Blackpool, UK. Second youngest child in a family of seven
~1950 - ~1961 - Hewlett's school years. Left school without any qualifications.
1961 - Hewlett joined Scots Guards at insistence of his father (~age 16/17).
1961 - ~1962 - Hewlett served 9 months in Scots Guard - Dishonorably discharged for causing disorder, being absent without leave and stealing a regimental bicycle.
1963 - Hewlett married Susan Ginley.
1963 - 1968 - Hewlett's marriage to Ginley. They had four children. Daughter named Gina, 41 (in 2009), to whom he wrote self-pitying letters from prison. Son Wayne, 40 (in 2009), who described his father as a “monster” who beat him savagely when he was a boy. Wayne later (Sept 2010) claimed to have received a deathbed confession from his father that Raymond knew Madeleine had been taken by gypsies. Wayne said he burned the letter (see below).
1963- 1968 - Raymond Hewlett arrested for a series of offences, ranging from burglary to firearms possession.
1971 - 1980
1972 - Hewlett jailed for one year after raping a 12-year-old girl he had lured into his car and knocked out with paint stripper. Served 12 months of an 18-month sentence. Upon release returned to Todmorden
1975 - Hewlett lived at Dineley Avenue, Todmorden, West Yorkshire - 10 miles from Rochdale - at the time of Lesley Molseed's murder.
1975 - October 2, 1975 - Lesley Molseed disappeared while running an errand for her mother near their home in Rochdale. On the day of Lesley's disappearance, Hewlett's turquoise Morris 1000 van was seen parked in the lay-by on the A672 Oldham-Halifax Road next to the isolated spot where Lesley's body was found. It had a tartan blanket (that Hewlett had stolen in Scotland) wrapped around its windscreen and side windows. Hewlett was linked to the crime scene by his ownership of a blue Morris 1000 van which matched descriptions given by 14 witnesses who saw one parked in a lay-by at Ripponden on the day of Lesley's abduction. Witness Christopher Coverdale saw a man with a girl matching Lesley's description walking up the hillside next to the lay-by.
1975 - October 2, 1975 - Hewlett's 15 year old girlfriend, Rosalee Dolan provided alibi for Raymond Hewlett. At the time she stated he had been with her in a park. In her later confession to police regarding her false statements, she stated that on October 2, 1975, Hewlett had actually arrived back in Todmorden at 5 pm and told her to provide him with a false alibi. She said that at the time she believed she was helping him cover up a car theft.
1975 - ~October 2, 1975 - Hewlett and Rosalee Dolan first fled to Burnley - stayed with two friends, Michael and John Goodall .Later they went to Liverpool and then fled to Ireland . (Some articles claim Hewlett left for Ireland the day after Lesley Molseed was murdered.)
1975 - October 5, 1975 - Lesley Molseed's body was found near Ripponden. She had been stabbed a dozen times with a knife. West Yorkshire police were in charge of investigation. The senior officer in charge was Detective Superintendent Dick Holland. Stefan Kiszko made a ‘confession’ to Dick Holland but later told how he had been terrified of Holland.
1975 - December 21, 1975 - Stefan Kiszko arrested by West Yorkshire Police. Three schoolgirls had claimed he had exposed himself to them. They later admitted to lying.
1976 - July 7, 1976 - Kiszko murder trial began under Sir Hugh Park. Kiszko was defended by David Waddington QC who later became Home Secretary in October 1989. Prosecuting QC, Peter Taylor later became Lord Chief Justice in 1992, the day after Kiszko was cleared of the murder. Kiszko claimed at trial that his confession was bullied out of him by the police.
"...(Kiszko's) innocence could have been demonstrated at the trial. The pathologist who examined Molseed's clothes found traces of sperm, whereas the sample taken from Kiszko by the police contained no sperm. There was medical evidence that Kiszko had broken his ankle some months before the murder and, in view of that and his being overweight, he would have found it difficult to scale the slope to the murder spot. The sperm findings were suppressed by the police and never disclosed to the defence team or the jury: neither was the medical evidence of his broken ankle disclosed to the court."Sheila Buckley, whose daughter Maxine played a major part in securing Kiszko's conviction, attacked the police for not arresting him earlier and told the Manchester Evening News that "Children are a lot safer now this monster has been put away". She demanded Kiszko's execution.
1976 - July 21, 1976 - Kiszko was found guilty of the murder of Lesley Molseed and sentenced to life in prison. He served 16 years in various prisons before the miscarriage of justice was exposed. Kiszko was attacked numerous times in prison and developed schizophrenia. He was told he would be eligible for parole only if he confessed but continued to proclaim his innocence.
1976 - Mariana Schmucker (Hewlett's current wife) was born in Germany
1978 - Hewlett attempted to rape a 14-year-old girl. Hewlett held a gun to her head. Sentenced to four years - served 16 months
1978 - May 25, 1978 - Kiszko's appeal was thrown out. Lord Justice Bridge said "We can find no grounds whatsoever to condemn the jury's verdict of murder as in any way unsafe or unsatisfactory".
1980 - Hewlett left wife Susan Ginley for Anita Cox. They had two children.
1981 - 1990
1982 - Hewlett married Anita Cox. Reportedly Hewlett frequently viciously attacked Anita
Unknown dates - Hewlett lived in Telford, Shropshire UK
1984 - Stefan Kiszko's mother contacted JUSTICE, the UK human rights organisation which at the time investigated many miscarriages of justice.
1987 - Stefan Kiszko's mother was put in touch with Campbell Malone, who agreed to take a look at the Molseed case when it seemed almost certain that Kiszko would never be released.
1988 - Hewlett jailed for six years after the abduction of a 14-year-old newspaper delivery girl at knife-point in Northwich, Cheshire.
1990 - Hewlett granted home leave from Leicestershire's Stoken Prison and absconded.
1990 - Hewlett fled to Ireland. Identified as the attacker by forensic evidence and brought back to face trial in UK.
1991 - 2000
1991 - Early February - Campbell Malone, with the help of private detective Peter Jackson finally urged the Home Office to reopen the Stefan Kiszko case. It was referred back to the West Yorkshire Police. Det. Superintendent Trevor Wilkinson immediately found several glaring errors.
Kiszko's innocence was demonstrated conclusively through medical evidence; he had male hypogonadism, which rendered him infertile, contradicting forensic evidence obtained at the time of the murder. During his research, private detective Peter Jackson found someone who said correctly that Kiszko was seen tending his father's grave with an aunt. They said they couldn't understand why they hadn't been called to give evidence at the trial. Someone else said he was in a shop around the time of the murder. Then, the three females involved in the original conviction admitted that the evidence they gave which led to Kiszko's arrest and conviction was false, and that they had lied for "a laugh". They said that Kiszko hadn't exposed himself and hadn't been stalking them, but that they had seen a taxi driver (not Ronald Castree) urinating behind a bush on the day of Molseed's murder.
1991 - Hewlett rearrested in Britain when returned from Ireland. Hewlett was re-investigated for the Molseed murder and interviewed again while serving a six-year prison sentence for a sexual offence committed in 1988.
1992 - Stefan Kiszko cleared of Molseed murder. On January 8, 1992 Kiszko was moved from Ashworth to Prestwich Hospital. Despite the now overwhelming and obvious evidence that Kiszko was innocent, the West Yorkshire police and the forensic scientist, Ronald Outteridge, refused to apologise to Kiszko for his wrongful conviction. Outteridge, the three then teenage girls and Peter Taylor, who prosecuted him, refused to comment at all, but never at any point did any of them offer any apologies, nor did Maxine Buckley's mother Sheila. The West Yorkshire Police still tried to justify the position they took in 1975, while accepting and admitting they were wrong.
~1991 - 1997 - Hewlett kept on the move in Ireland - seen in Cork, Donegal, Cavan, Sligo, Louth and Fermanagh. Visited at least nine counties. Spotted in Dublin, Kildare, Louth, Laois and Westmeath. Alleged to have been part of a network of paedophiles that would hide out throughout Northern Ireland and the Republic. Took particular interest in Fermanagh because of its close proximity with the Irish border
Lived in Urris, Inishowen for an unknown time. "Inishowen councillor, Padraig MacLochlainn, confirmed the sex pest had lived in Inishowen. He said: "He had lived in the area, in Urris for a while. "This was in recent years, but I am not sure how long he lived in the area. "The person I was speaking to did confirm this. "People may not have been aware of his history he lived there for a while and then moved on."
1990's - Date unknown - Hewlett lived in Enniskillen. Hewlett caused alarm with local schools sending letters home to parents. The warning letter circulated by school principals described the man as “a high risk offender with every likelihood that he will re-offend” During his time in the border county Hewlett investigated for the attempted rape of a nine-year-old girl in Co. Fermanagh
1990's - Date unknown - Hewlett was chief suspect in two other attempted rapes in both Co. Down and Co. Cavan — where he was questioned over the rape of another nine-year-old girl after his then wife told the Gardai that she suspected her husband was the rapist.
Date unknown - Hewlett lived in Co. Louth (near the Cooley mountains - Dundalk area). While living in Co. Louth he was suspected of attempting to abduct and sexually assault a young girl across the border in Co. Down.
Date unknown - Hewlett lived in Co. Kerry (1 mile from Tralee)
1992 - Rosalee Dolan, Hewlett's former girlfriend gave statement to police that she had lied when giving the original alibi for Hewlett on the day Molseed was murdered. She claimed that she had believed at the time that she had been providing an alibi for Hewlett about the theft of a car and admitted the alibi was false.
1993 - Hewlett questioned by police re: Molseed murder. Most of his answers consisted of: "No reply. Freed due to "lack of evidence".
1993 - December 23, 1993 - Stefan Kiszko died of a massive heart attack. His mother, Charlotte Hedwig Kiszko, died four months later, in Rochdale, on May 3, 1994, at the age of 70.
1993 - Hewlett lived in commune in Co. Donegal. Commune members eventually asked him to leave after concerns re: remarks made by their children concerning Hewlett.
Unknown dates - Hewlett worked as a candle maker in the Italian mountains While in Italy married "Gabriella" and had a son "Marco". Gabriella left him after learning the nature of inquiries made re: Hewlett by the Italian police
1994 - Detective Superintendent Dick Holland, the surviving senior officer in charge of the original investigation and the forensic scientist who worked on the case Ronald Outteridge (retired), were formally charged with "doing acts tending to pervert the course of justice" by allegedly suppressing evidence against Kiszko, namely the results of scientific tests on semen taken from the victim's body and from the accused. It was alleged they had destroyed the forensic evidence which could have proved the innocence of Stefan and the guilt of the real murderer. They also withheld statements from the defence, which proved the whereabouts of Stefan on the day of the murder.
1995 - May 1, 1995 - Magistrate Jane Hayward prevented the case Holland/Outteridge case from proceeding citing that because of the death of Jack Dibb the two remaining defendants could not receive a fair trial (it was called "abuse of process"). (Holland and Outteridge both blamed the deceased CS Dibb for any wrong doing) The case has never appeared before a jury.
1995 - Hewlett lived in or near Milan, Italy
Unknown date - Hewlett met current wife Marianna (Schmucker) in Italy. Hewlett was a mechanic on a tourist boat and Mariana was cleaner for the boat's owners on island of Elba
1997 - Hewlett was photographed in Forres, Scotland with his girlfriend, a 25-year-old German national Marianna (Schmucker).
1997 - Hewlett was known by Det. Max McLean to have had plans to return to Italy in 1997.
1997 - The book "Innocents: How Justice Failed Stefan Kiszko and Lesley Molseed by Jonathan Rose, Steve Panter and Trevor Wilkinson was published 10 Oct 1997. The book names Raymond Hewlett as likely murderer of Lesley Molseed and provides details and witness statements. The book also established a previously unknown link between Hewlett's family and friends of the Molseed family.
Unknown date - Hewlett returned to Co. Donegal with pregnant German partner Marianna (Schmucker).
After a period in Ireland (where he is suspected of attacking at least one other child), he journeyed overland through France and Spain to southern Portugal. Reports claim that Hewlett led a "nomadic existence" - crisscrossing Europe with wife Mariana and six children.
1998 - DCI Holland the lead detective in the Molseed case retired. He had also been the senior officer on the Yorkshire Ripper murder investigation.
1998 - Hewlett lived in Co. Donegal (Letterkenny area - gypsy camp)
2001 - 2006
2001 - Det Chief Supt Max McLean was leading the new investigation into the Molseed murder. He said that he was confident he would find Raymond Hewlett, who was the prime suspect.
2002 - Hewlett was last spotted in Co. Fermanagh in Enniskillen. Resided in small apartment above a chip shop on Enniskillen’s Belmore Street.
2002 - Summer - Hewletts first arrived in Portugal from Germany. They would stop in various places and "decide whether to hang around", depending on the weather and how easy it was to make money. Hewlett would busk on the street, playing guitar. Hewlett said he had been to Praia da Luz in 2002 but not since that time.
2005 - Hewlett was in Morocco "for a couple of months."
2006 - Ronald Castree was arrested and charged with the murder of Lesley Molseed on November 5, 2006. He made his first court appearance on 7 November 2006.
2007
2007 - February - DCI Holland died.
2007 - May 3, 2007 - Madeleine McCann "disappeared" in Praia da Luz, Portugal
2007 - May 2007 - Hewlett was living an hour from Praia da Luz in a van with his wife and 6 children. Hewlett family were moving between three towns - Vila Real de Santo Antonio, Fuzeta and Tavira - all within 60 miles of Praia da Luz. Hewletts scraped money together by picking up unwanted jumble and old car parts, then selling it on.
2007 - May - Former Scots Guard Peter Verran (who was injured in Northern Ireland) claims that he met Hewlett at a campsite in Chefchaouen in Morocco in May 2007. "A former soldier (Verran) who met Hewlett at a campsite in Morocco in May 2007 told the Sunday Mirror he admitted parking a van close to the McCann’s complex on several occasions." In the Sunday Mirror, Mr. Verran, a former Scots Guard, said he had been interviewed by Leicestershire police." (Please note, the confusion regarding dates. If the news articles were correct and Verran met Hewlett in Morocco in May 2007, Hewlett was obviously not a concern to police.)
2007 - Summer 2007 - Hewletts were visited by local police helping in search for Maddie . Portuguese police visited Hewlett and his wife Mariana twice about the case (unknown dates). Hewlett gave Portuguese police a DNA swab and fingerprints. Hewlett at all times maintained his innocence in regard to the McCann case.
2007 - June 10, 2007 - Hewlett left Portugal and took his family to Morocco. He said: "A friend gave me a broken old Mercedes and I stripped it down into parts. "I knew they were worth a fortune in Morocco because I'd been there for a couple of months in 2005. You can even get good money for Mercedes nuts and bolts there. "I knew people on the docks at Faro and I got the captain of a ferry to take us over for free. We stayed in Morocco for two months and came back in the August. I made 300 euros from the car parts." Hewlett said he left Portugal five weeks after Madeleine disappeared for a two-month "business trip". Said that he caught a ferry from Faro to Morocco. (Note: British reporter claimed that "there is NO public ferry service between Faro and Morocco.") Hewlett said he stayed at campsite in Morocco for at least two months and made 300 euros selling car parts.
2007 - ~June 2007 to ~July 2007 Hewletts stayed at campsite in Morocco.
2007 - Alan and Cindy Thompson met Hewletts in Morocco and were the first to bring them to the attention of the police (allegedly)
2007 - August - Hewletts returned to Portugal from Morocco.
2007 - 22 October 2007 Castree trial began .
2007 - 12 November 2007 By a 10-2 majority, Ronald Castree was found guilty of murdering Lesley Molseed. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 30 years. Outteridge, having not been charged over Kiszko's wrongful conviction, gave evidence at the trial of Castree. The West Yorkshire Police finally apologised for Kiszko's wrongful arrest and imprisonment on November 12, 2007, when Detective Chief Superintendent Max McLean said of Kiszko's wrongful imprisonment: "We are very sorry. I think everybody regrets enormously what happened to Stefan Kiszko. It was a dreadful miscarriage of justice. I am so pleased that today we have finally put things right."
Castree continues to proclaim his innocence. Defence counsel Rodney Jameson QC told Bradford Crown Court that there was "an overwhelming possibility" that the man who sexually assaulted Lesley and stabbed her 12 times was Hewlett. There is controversy over the possibility that Castree's DNA was planted by police on the piece of tape used to convict Castree. Lesley's clothing had been destroyed by the Forensic Science Services. "Castree could not explain the evidence other than suggesting he may have been framed by two police officers he crossed swords with in 1979 or that the profile was the result of cross-contamination."
2007 - August 2008 - Hewlett was in Spain undergoing treatment for throat cancer and "Portuguese police, acting on unknown information" swooped on his truck
2008
2008 - Hewletts left Spain for Germany where Hewlett was to undergo treatment for throat cancer at hospital in Aachen, Germany.
2008 December - Hewlett's son David was killed, allegedly falling out of the van as family drove through Spain en route to Germany. Spanish police were reportedly investigating.
2009
2009 - May - Hewletts were living in Aachen, Germany. Tracked down by McCann detectives to hospital in Aachen where Hewlett was undergoing treatment for throat cancer. The detectives had hoped to put a series of questions to him but he refused to see them and they were forced to return to the UK "empty-handed." Hewlett refused to see Madeleine investigators in May, claiming he was too ill to be questioned. (Note it was actually a decision made by his lawyer, however the British press reported it as Hewlett's refusal.)
2009 - June 2009 - Hewlett claimed he had only weeks to live. Hewlett discharged from hospital after being told by doctors there was nothing they could do for him.
2009 - June 2009 - Hewletts lived on fourth floor of a tower block described as "in a squalid German flat". His voice so weak it is at times barely audible, "...today Hewlett is holed up in his cramped, sparse apartment, with Mariana, 33, and six young children." The family arrived there six weeks previously as his health deteriorated and Mariana was able to get state benefits.
2009 - June 2009 - McCann investigators returned to Aachen Germany. Hewlett was deemed by his lawyer to be too ill to undergo intensive questioning. McCanns claim that Hewlett resembles a pock-marked suspect seen near the McCann holiday apartment and has refused to give an alibi for the night of the disappearance. He said: "It's obvious why they're interested in me. But they can all think what they like. I didn't kill the McCann girl. It's the truth and it's never going to change. "There is a person who can say where I was that day, but why should I bring them into this? I've done nothing wrong."
2009 - June 2009 - Det. Max McLean traveled to Aachen. Hewlett allegedly was still being investigated by West Yorkshire police over an attack nearly 30 years ago. "West Yorkshire Police are also investigating his possible involvement with an indecent assault in 1975."
2009 - June 2009 - British press claimed Hewlett was refusing to give an alibi for the night Madeleine vanished, although he did give an alibi but did not want to bring friends into the spotlight.
2009 - June 14, 2009 - Hewlett said he had never seen Madeleine in real life and vowed to prove his innocence. Offered to take a lie detector test or any test offered. Said he had only seen Madeleine on missing posters and once on a TV at a bar. "It's obvious why they're interested in me," "But they can all think what they like. I didn't kill the McCann girl. It's the truth and it's never going to change." Hewlett said: "I would say to the McCanns that I know what it's like to lose a child because it's happened to me recently," "I've been through hell and now I've got another hell which I don't deserve. I know for a fact that I didn't do anything wrong, but if people aren't listening, what can you do?" "I didn't kill the McCann girl."
2010
2010 - ~January 2010 Raymond Hewlett died of throat cancer.
2010 - March 2010 - The West Yorkshire police were approached by the CEOP with a request to review the Madeleine McCann investigation.
April 2010 - News reports indicated that Raymond Hewlett had died of throat cancer and was cremated at a pauper’s funeral in Germany four months prior (approx January 2010)
September 2010 - Wayne Hewlett, Raymond Hewlett's estranged son claimed to have received a deathbed letter from his father regarding Madeleine McCann. Wayne said his father had written that Madeleine McCann had been stolen to order by gypsies but that Raymond had had nothing to do with it. Wayne said that he had "he burned the letter because it ‘unnerved’ him so much." The McCann's private investigators were extremely interested in the claims.
