Serving prisoner arrested over murder of schoolgirl who vanished 30 years ago

Lindsay Jo Rimer, 13, vanished after she went to buy cornflakes from a shop in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, on November 7, 1994.

The schoolgirl's body was found in the Rochdale Canal five months later, but her killer was never found.

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On Monday, West Yorkshire Police said they had arrested a man at an undisclosed UK prison, where he is serving a sentence for other offences.

Detectives will interview him over the course of Monday and Tuesday. He is then expected to be bailed and returned to prison while inquiries continue.

Several specific potential witnesses, mainly in the Hebden Bridge and wider Halifax area, have also been identified by officers in the investigation, who will approach them in the coming days.

The arrest was the force's first in the investigation into Lindsay's murder since 2017.

On the night the teenager went missing, she had left her home in Cambridge Street at about 10pm.

She then called in to see her mother at the Trades Club, a members club and music venue in Hebden Bridge.

CCTV images captured her buying cornflakes from the Spar shop on Crown Street 20 minutes later.

Lindsay was last officially seen not long after this, leaning against a wall near the Memorial Garden.

One of largest searches for the youngster was then carried out by West Yorkshire Police.

Her body was found in the Rochdale Canal, about a mile from her hometown, the following spring by two canal workers. It had been weighed down with a stone.

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 30 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 to do the right thing and tell us what they know."