Her sister punched the air in triumph and her mother could not contain her delight outside the court. After more than 32 years the criminal justice system finally got it right for Lesley Molseed.

An innocent man had spent 16 years in jail and after his release another 15 years had passed before it finally became obvious that Ronald Castree was the deviant who lured 11-year-old Lesley into his taxi before sexually assaulting her and stabbing her 12 times.

After a judge recommended that Castree serve at least 30 years before he is considered for parole, the dead girl’s mother, April Garrett, told waiting reporters: “We are relieved that after so long our quest for justice for Lesley is now over. It’s been a long and harrowing ordeal and our gratitude to the friends, family and strangers throughout the world who have given us their support is immense.”

She was accompanied by Lesley’s older sisters Julie Crabbe, 48, who left court with one arm aloft, and Laura Huish, 45. Their brother Freddie was not there. He never got over the death of his sister and killed himself two years ago.

Despite DNA evidence that established there was a billion to one chance that Castree was not the killer, he continued to protest his innocence as he was led to the cells below Bradford Crown Court yesterday.

Mr Justice Openshaw told him: “You kept quiet whilst an entirely innocent man was arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced for this murder. He served 16 years before his conviction was fully set aside, living only a couple of years after his release before he died.”

Stefan Kiszko had been convicted in 1976 of the murder of Lesley, whose body was dumped on moorland eight miles from her home. He was released in 1992. The judge accepted that Castree was “not directly responsible for this injustice” but said he was entitled to consider the effect on the families involved.

He said of the Molseed family: “They have had a long wait for justice. They have had to endure the long years of uncertainty. I have no doubt for them the memory of this dreadful murder is, and always will be, a burden which they must bear as best they can for the rest of their lives.”

Castree, a comic-book dealer, was finally caught after he gave a DNA sample in connection with what is understood to have been a serious sexual assault in 2005. No action was taken over that complaint but the sample provided a match with semen found on Lesley’s underwear.

Detective Chief Superintendent Max McLean, of West Yorkshire Police, said: “Lesley was abducted and brutally killed. She was taken from the safety of her community, subjected to a terrifying and frenzied attack and then abandoned in the bleakest of resting places.

“No one deserves the kind of anxiety that Lesley’s family has endured over the years not knowing, until now, who killed her.

“They have been extremely supportive of the work that we have done and I am delighted that Castree has been brought to justice for their sake.”

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