11/12/2007

Remembering the second victim - Stefan Kiszko

On the day that Lesley Molseed's real killer was convicted, we ought to remember the innocent man who served 16 years in prison, found guilty of her murder, and released after multiple appeals, only to die a year after his release, Stefan Kiszko.

Despite having broken his ankle a few weeks earlier meaning he could never have climbed to where Lesley Molseed's body was found (evidence hidden and suppressed by the Police) and being medically impotent, meaning he could not have left semen stains on her clothing (again, evidence hidden by the police), Stefan Kiszko was found guilty by a 10-2 majority verdict, with David Waddington, later to be a very senior Tory Minister conducting an almost criminally inept defence of Stefan Kiszko which was criticised heavily after his successful appeal. Kiszko's defence failed to call key witnesses, failed to conduct a proper defence, and left a vulnerable man exposed to the very worst kind of police arm twisting in order to achieve a conviction.

Kizsko was beaten up twice in prison, suffered from schizophrenia after his second attack, and died just a year after being released from prison after 16 years of virtual solitary confinement.

Remembering two victims today. Lesley Molseed and Stefan Kizsko.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you very much for remembering him.

I am not British (nor does it matter), but I am a journalist (and, rather more importantly, a human being), and I remember when he was released in 1992.
I was very sorry today to find out that he died only a year and ten months later, followed shortly thereafter by his mother.

I don't know anything (obviously!) about afterlife, if there is one; I am not even sure what purpose, if any, remembrance serves.

But I just can't help myself remembering him and his mother - AND the poor little Lesley, obviously - again and again.

BTW, I don't think it was necessarily a mere coincidence that he was also mentally "challenged" (as Po-Co American slang would have it). A huge bear of a man with the mental age of a 12-year-old is too "different" - he was bound to be ostracised anyway, I am afraid.

(And it's still not too late for his accusers to express their sorrow for their mistake - if they harbour any such feelings, that is...)

Again, thank you for remembering all of those who suffered in this case.

jailhouselawyer said...

Hear, hear.

Anonymous said...

" (evidence hidden and suppressed by the Police) " - isn't that perverting the course of justice?

Have those responsible been charged?

Surely they should spend time in prison

jams o donnell said...

Nich, well said. You are absolutely right. I am only just getting around to post on the subject myself


andyw, a pathologist and one senior officer were charged with perverting the course of justice in 1995. The case was dropped though.

West Yorkshire Police gave false closure to Molseed's family. They threw a vulnerable target to the wolves.

His defence lawyer, Waddington was not almost criminally incompetent, he was UTTERLY incompetent (he showed this utter incompetence as Home Secretary too - despite some stiff competition he is undoubtedly the worst Home Secretary we have seen in the last 30 years - I can only imagine that old scumbag suported the death penalty to ensure that his screw ups would have been hanged... but I digress


Castree's conviction will, I hope, give comfort and closure to Molseed's and Kiszko's families. They both desperately deserve it.

I only hope Waddington, the girls who lied about Kiszk back i 1975 and so set the train of events in motion, the surviving police officers and pathologists are wracked with guilt for they did and did not do.

Pages