Detectives investigating the death of a schoolgirl 22 years ago have arrested a man on suspicion of murder. The body of Lindsay Rimer, 13, was found in the Rochdale canal five months after she disappeared in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, in November 1994.
On Tuesday, West Yorkshire police announced that a 63-year-old man from Bradford had been arrested and was being questioned by detectives.
In April, police said they were exploring new leads in the hope of identifying Lindsay’s killer. Forensic experts in Canada had developed a DNA profile after examining unspecified exhibits provided by West Yorkshire detectives.
Lindsay left her home in Cambridge Street at about 10pm on 7 November 1994 and visited the Trades Club in Home Street. The last known sighting of her was on CCTV 20 minutes later as she bought cornflakes at a shop in Crown Street. Her body, which had been weighted down with a stone, was recovered about a mile upstream from the town centre.
Speaking publicly about the case for the first time in April, Lindsay’s younger sister Juliet Rimer described the void her death had created. “There will always be a void. I have no memories of her of my own, everything is from photographs, stories and the media,” she said.
“A piece of everyone’s soul is missing, and I often wonder how our lives would have been if we were not a ‘broken’ family – the advice Lindsay would have given me, the fights we might have had, the things we may have shared.”
In a video appeal issued by police in April, Juliet added: “Not knowing what happened is the worst part. You walk down the street and wonder: ‘Was it them? Do you know something?’ Getting the answers wouldn’t change the hurt, but it would help bring closure to us all.”
