Town relives the night Lindsay, 13, disappeared

IAN MacKINNON

A nervous young woman last night bravely retraced the steps that her little sister made on the night she disappeared exactly one year ago.

Kate Rimer looked uncannily like her sister Lindsay as she walked slowly through the dark, quiet streets of Hebden Bridge. The small West Yorkshire town was reliving the events surrounding the disappearance of one of its 13-year-old daughters in an effort to shed light on her murder.

The town's 4,000 inhabitants were asked by police to re-enact events exactly as they happened on Monday 7 November last year, the night that Lindsay Jo Rimer went missing. Her body was found by workmen five months later in a canal, weighed down by a 25lb rock.

Dressed in clothes identical to Lindsay's - a grey hooded top, black jeans and black shoes - Kate, 21, insisted on retracing her sister's steps in spite of an offer by the police to bring in an actress to take part in Britain's biggest ever reconstruction.

More than 120 police officers attended the reconstruction, stopping cars at roadblocks and interviewing townsfolk who were asked to wear the same clothes and do exactly the same things they had done a year ago.

But police admitted that the town, which at times seemed like a deserted stage-set, was far less busy than they had hoped.

Detective Superintendent Tony Whittle, who is leading the inquiry, said: "This is the best way we have to recreate events of a year ago and perhaps jog someone's memory.

"But it has been very, very quiet - the police officers are outnumbering the members of the public."

Mr Whittle paid tribute to the bravery of Kate, who also took part in a reconstruction soon after her sister disappeared.

He said: "She wasn't looking forward to it - she was extremely worried.

"I was quite prepared to get an actress but she said: 'No, this is what I can do to catch Lindsay's killer'. She's very brave."

Yesterday, Lindsay's mother, Geraldine Rimer, 43, said she hoped the reconstruction might provide some answers:"We all want to find out what happened to Lindsay a year ago. We have gone through a year without knowing what happened and it is horrific knowing we might have to go through another year."