Murder of Elsie Frost

On 25 March 2018, it was reported that the hitherto unnamed suspect was Peter Pickering, convicted of the 1972 manslaughter of 14 year old Shirley Boldy in Wombwell near Barnsley. Pickering had died in a secure hospital the previous day. Detective Superintendent Nick Wallen of West Yorkshire Police said they had "strongly suspected" he was responsible and "it was our expectation" the Crown Prosecution Service would have decided to charge him in due course.

In July 2018, it was revealed that the Frost family would be lobbying the Attorney-General for a new inquest where they could ask that the evidence against Pickering be looked at. The family stated that they felt "cheated and robbed" by Pickering's death as he would not go in front of a jury, but that a new inquest would be the next best thing. Their request was granted in December 2018 with the attorney general stating

On 27 September 2016, it was announced that Thames Valley Police had arrested a 78-year-old man in connection with Elsie's death. It was revealed on 29 September 2016 that the man had been bailed after his arrest. On 6 March 2017 it was reported that the same man had been re-arrested in connection with Elsie's death and that he was also being questioned in relation to an unconnected allegation of rape and kidnap in 1972.

Pressure from Elsie's brother and sister (Anne Cleave and Colin Frost) and coverage of the murder on an investigative BBC Radio 4 programme prompted West Yorkshire Police to re-open the case in 2015, 50 years after the killing. The new investigation produced 100 lines of enquiry, a response that the police found encouraging. The Major Investigation Review team is staffed by serving officers as well as civilians, most of whom are retired detectives. The review team disclosed that most of the original files from 1965 had been destroyed.

Until 1984, a coroner's inquest could apportion blame and guilt and recommend criminal proceedings to be brought against an individual, which is what happened to Mr Spencer. The coroner stated that there was sufficient prima facie evidence against him.

There have been other suspects and theories: one was that Elsie had stumbled across two men engaged in a homosexual act (homosexual acts were illegal in Britain up until 1967). Another witness has described seeing a man in his mid-twenties, dressed in white overalls and on a bike. This led to suggestions that the man, who could be a witness, was a butcher's delivery boy or an abattoir worker.

In January 1966, the deputy coroner, Philip Gill, presiding over the inquest into Elsie's death decided that Ian Bernard Spencer, who was 33 at the time, was the man guilty of killing Elsie. Spencer maintained that although he was in the area of Elsie's death earlier in the day, he was at home during the time that Elsie was murdered. Despite this being corroborated by his wife, his mother-in-law and a family friend, the three witnesses were not called to give evidence on his behalf at the inquest.

Elsie Frost, (7 February 1951 – 9 October 1965) 14-year-old school-girl was killed in an underpass beneath a railway line near to Wakefield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, on 9 October 1965. Despite a massive manhunt and national coverage, there has been no successful conviction of anyone responsible for her death. In 2015, after pressure from Elsie's family, West Yorkshire Police re-opened the case, and then, in March 2018 the primary suspect died.