Murder of Lesley Molseed
Stefan Kiszko (24 March 1952 - 23 December1993), a tax clerk, was the subject of an infamous miscarriage of justice in the United Kingdom. He was convicted of the sexual assault and murder of 11-year old Lesley Molseed, which took place on 5 October 1975 in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.
The Police quickly formed the view that Kiszko fitted the profile of the person likely to have killed Lesley Molseed. They pursued evidence which incriminated him, and ignored leads which would have taken their enquiries in other directions. He confessed to the crime after two days of questioning. The Police did not tell him of his right to have a solicitor present. When he asked if he could have his mother present when he was questioned, they refused and the Police did not caution him until well after they had decided he was the prime suspect.
Kiszko was defended at his trial by David Waddington QC, who later became Home Secretary. His defence team made significant mistakes. First, they did not seek an adjournment when the Crown delivered thousands of pages of additional unused material on the first morning of the trial.
Then there was the inconsistent defence of diminished responsibility which Kiszko never authorised, on the grounds that drugs he was receiving for his condition might have made him behave unusually. Kiszko's endocrinologist, if called, would have said that his treatment could not have caused him to act in the way he was charged with. The prosecuting QC, Peter Taylor, who obtained Kiszko's conviction, went on to become Lord Chief Justice, in a coincidence, the day after Kiszko was cleared of this murder.
The manslaughter claim was to undermine Kiszko's denials that he was totally innocent and destroyed his alibis. In fact, his innocence could easily have been demonstrated at the trial. The pathologist who examined Molseed's clothes found traces of sperm, whereas the semen sample taken from Kiszko by the police contained no sperm. However, these facts were not made available to the court and the Jury were not told.
After Kiszko's arrest, two then 13-year-old girls claimed that Kizsko exposed himself to them just before Lesley Molseed was murdered. This attracted Police to Kiszko in the first place. They were commended by the judge for their "Bravery and honesty" after the conviction was secured by a 10-2 jury verdict on 21 July 1976 at Leeds Crown Court after a two week trial. Kiszko's denials of murder were not believed. Neither were his claims that the confession was bullied out of him. The "Bravery and Honesty" statement was somewhat ironic as both girls later admitted after Kiszko's release that what they said was false. Kiszko had never done anything of the kind.
Also praised by the Judge after securing Kizsko's conviction were the Police Officers whose "hard work" had "Brought him to justice".
An appeal in May 1978 failed.
Kiszko spent 16 years incarcerated. Kiszko developed Schizophrenia whilst in prison and began to suffer from delusions. One prison which held Kiszko also tried to persuade him to go on a Sex Offenders Treatment Programme, in which he would have had to admit the rape and murder and discuss the reasons for his offence. He refused to do so. Whilst in prison, he also refused to admit his guilt and "address his offending behaviour" - a prerequisite for being granted parole which he could have been awarded in 1991. His claims of innocence were put down as symptoms of his delusions.
In early 1991 his lawyer Campbell J Malone with the help of private detective Peter Jackson urged the Home Office to reopen the case, which was then referred back to the West Yorkshire police after a long campaign by his mother to prove his innocence. This was eventually demonstrated conclusively through medical evidence; He had XYY syndrome, which rendered him infertile, in contradiction to forensic evidence obtained at the time of the murder.
Kizsko was released on 18 February 1992. Lord Chief Justice Lane said "It has been shown that this man cannot produce sperm. This man cannot have been the person responsible for ejaculating over the girl's knickers and skirt, and consequently cannot have been the murderer".
The two girls who were by now mature adults, the police, the law courts or the forensic scientists all refused to apologize to Kiszko after he was released. All of their refusals to apologize roused public outrage due to the fact that Kiszko survived terrible ordeals while in prison, moving from mental hospitals to solitary confinement. As a convicted sex offender, he was isolated from other prisoners for his own safety under Rule 43 but still was attacked twice during his time in prison. The first time was a few days after his jailing by six prisoners, and then again in 1977 when he was severely attacked. This assault required 17 stitches to a head wound.
After he was released, Kiszko was told he would receive 500,000 pounds in compensation for the years he spent in prison. He received an interim payment but neither he or his mother got the full amount as both died beforehand. He needed eight months rehabilitation before he was fully released but the years in prison had broken him. Kiszko became a recluse and showed no interest in anything or anyone. Other people's encouragement and support seemed to frighten him on the rare occasions he did venture out.
Kiszko died of a massive heart attack, two days before Christmas 1993, the 18th anniversary of the false confession which led to the conviction that destroyed his life. His mother died in May 1994. Although recent scientific advances have subsequently obtained a DNA profile of Lesley Molseed's attacker, the real killer has never been found.
The officer's who obtained Kiszko's confession were never charged.
The Police Force and The director of public prosecution refused to publish the report into how he was wrongfully jailed.