Wakefield schoolgirl Elsie Frost murder suspect wrote 'Aladdin's cave' of disturbing letters

The man police believe killed Elsie Frost wrote thousands of letters from prison.
Elsie FrostElsie Frost
Elsie Frost

DCS Nick Wallen said that detectives also found an "Aladdin's cave" of letters written by Peter Pickering that had been sent to relatives of his late mother from prison.

"Hundreds of thousands" of letters were found in lock-ups in Liverpool and Sheffield, he added.

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Pickering had pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility for the killing of Shirley Boldy, 14, near Barnsley in 1972.

Pickering, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, died aged 80 of natural causes in a psychiatric hospital. He never admitted killing Elsie Frost.

DCS Wallen said: "Pickering was an avid writer and poet and artist, in his own mind at least.

"He had written down everything he had done for the last 40 years in prison.

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"He wrote things down that, in my view, suggested he was responsible for Elsie's death."

Senior Corner Kevin McLoughlin asked the detective if he was falling into the same mistakes as previous investigators and making evidence fit a "good suspect".

DCS Wallen replied: "My investigations are always an open book.

"I was aware that the accusation against me could be that I'm repeating the mistakes of my predecessors in 1965 and 1966.

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"Throughout all of this, we have looked at other individuals.

"As always in this part of the world, there is the spectre of the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe.

"I'm not saying you should think Peter Pickering committed this murder because of a poem.

"I do believe if you put everything together that we have discovered, inconsistencies in his accounts and his previous offending history, we would have a really compelling case to put before the crown.

"I am in no doubt that Peter Pickering was responsible for Elsie Frost's murder."

The inquest continues.