Man arrested on suspicion of killing 13-year-old girl who went missing 31 years ago

A man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering a 13-year-old girl three decades after she went missing.

Lindsay Rimer was 13 years old when she went missing in Hebden Bridge in November 1994; she had left her home to buy a packet of cornflakes from the SPAR supermarket in Crown Street.

While initially suspected to be a runaway, her body was found by two canal workers in April 1995 in the Rochdale Canal at Rawden Mill Lock, about a mile from the centre of Hebden Bridge.

Detectives from West Yorkshire Police arrested a man at an undisclosed UK prison on Monday morning, where he is serving a sentence for other offences.

The suspect is being interviewed over the course of Monday and Tuesday. He is expected to be bailed and returned to prison while enquiries continue, the force said.

Officers have also approached a number of specific potential witnesses in the Hebden Bridge and wider Halifax area who were identified by the investigation.

Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Chief Inspector James Entwistle said: “We remain very firmly committed to doing everything we can to get justice for Lindsay, and to give her family the answers they still so desperately need after all these years.

“The arrest we have made today comes as a result of our continued focus on progressing the investigation. We are keeping Lindsay’s family updated and, while we appreciate the understandable public interest that today’s arrest will bring, we do not anticipate any immediate developments at this stage.

“Although it is now more than thirty years since Lindsay was murdered, we remain convinced there is someone out there who has vital information that could finally help to ease her family’s pain, and we urge them do the right thing and tell us what they know.”

Anyone with further information has been urged to contact police by calling 101 quoting Operation Posemill, or sending a text or voicemail to 07707147314.