Man arrested over 1965 murder of Wakefield school girl Elsie Frost

Elsie Frost was attacked from behind and stabbed in the back and head as she walked through a railway tunnel on 9 October 1965

Elsie Frost,14, from Wakefield, West Yorkshire (West Yorkshire Police)

A 78-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of the murder of a school girl, more than 50 years after she was killed.

Elsie Frost, from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, was attacked from behind and stabbed in the back and head as she walked through a railway tunnel just off a canal tow path in the town on 9 October 1965.

Police renewed efforts to find the 14-year-old’s killer last year with refreshed publicity five decades on from her death and received new information.

The suspect was arrested in Berkshire on Tuesday and is being held at a police station in Thames Valley where he will be questioned by officers from West Yorkshire police’s homicide and major inquiry team.

Image taken by investigators in 1965 showing the railway station steps (West Yorkshire Police ) (West Yorkshire Police)

A major police inquiry was launched after Elsie’s body was found at the bottom of a flight of steps by a dog walker at 4:15pm on the same day she was killed.

A post-mortem examination determined she had died as a result of her injuries.

Hundreds of people were interviewed as part of the investigation, however the teenager’s killer has never been found.

In 1966, Ian Bernard Spencer, then aged 33, was charged with her murder and later cleared.

Detective Superintendent Nick Wallen said: "A reinvestigation into Elsie's murder was launched in 2015 by West Yorkshire Police, backed by a publicity campaign on the 50th anniversary of her death.

"Since then we have received significant numbers of calls and emails from members of the public offering new information, and have generated new lines of inquiry which officers have been progressing ever since.

"Following those inquiries we have now arrested a 78-year-old man in the Berkshire area and will be interviewing him under caution to progress our investigation."

The renewed police inquiry was triggered by a BBC Radio 4 investigation into the case.

Images taken by investigators in 1965 showing the scene of the murder (West Yorkshire Police)

In January, West Yorkshire police said a new suspect description had come from new information given to police.

The new line described a man in his early 20s, of slim to medium build, with dark hair and wearing a duffel coat, who was seen near the railway station steps around the time Elsie’s body was found.

In the wake of a fresh police appeal, Elsie’s brother Chris Frost, spoke out about her family’s pain saying their parents Edith and Arthur had died “with a huge amount of guilt”.

Mr Frost described Elsie as “just a sweet, sweet person. She was lovely.”

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme in October that he and his sister Anne had pushed for justice for Elsie because they “didn’t want to die thinking we had not done anything.”

Detective Superintendent Wallen, added: "Elsie's brother and sister have been kept fully apprised of the progress of the enquiry and I wish to commend them for their perseverance and that of members of the media in continuing to campaign for her and to put this case back in the public domain."　

Additional reporting by Press Association