Detectives investigating one of Yorkshire’s longest-running unsolved murders have arrested a serving prisoner on suspicion of killing a 13-year-old girl whose body was found weighted down in a canal three decades ago.
Lindsay Jo Rimer vanished after going to buy cornflakes from a shop in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, on the evening of 7 November 1994. Her body was discovered five months later in the Rochdale Canal, about a mile from her home, weighted down with a stone.
West Yorkshire Police confirmed on Monday they had arrested a man at an undisclosed UK prison, where he is serving a sentence for other offences. The force said he would be interviewed over Monday and Tuesday and is expected to be bailed and returned to prison whilst inquiries continue.
Family’s 30-Year Wait for Justice
The arrest comes just weeks after Lindsay’s family marked the 30th anniversary of her disappearance with an emotional appeal for information. Her eldest sister Kate Rimer, who was 20 when Lindsay went missing, described the unrelenting grief the family has endured.
Speaking in November 2024, Kate said this person should be in prison, not them because that’s where they feel they’ve been for the last 30 years. She added that if anyone knows something about her sister’s murder and the person who killed her, they have a moral obligation to come forward because this needs to end for their family, and it needs to end for Lindsay as well.
Lindsay’s younger sister Juliet, who was just 18 months old when her sister was murdered, has recently been reading letters and diaries to gain a better understanding of a life cut short. She described the ongoing ordeal as a bit of a horror film they have to live through.
Last Seen on CCTV Buying Breakfast
The schoolgirl was last seen in Hebden Bridge’s Memorial Gardens, close to a bus stop on New Road at 10:45pm on 7 November 1994. She had earlier visited the nearby Trades Club on Holme Street to see her mum and collect some money before heading to the Spar convenience store on Crown Street to buy cornflakes.
CCTV footage shows Lindsay in the Spar where she bought the cereal and left at 10:23pm. It has been widely circulated and is the last-known footage of her. The alarm was raised the following morning when she failed to turn up for her paper round.
Her disappearance sparked one of the county’s biggest ever missing person inquiries, with hundreds of local people joining police in searches of the area. Parts of the Rochdale Canal and River Calder along her route home were searched, and the home of every man in the town was examined by officers.
Body Discovered After Five Months
On 12 April 1995, Lindsay’s body was found by two canal workers at Rawden Mill Lock in the Rochdale Canal. It had been weighted down with a concrete boulder to prevent it from floating to the surface, and had probably been dislodged during dredging operations in the canal over the preceding days.
Charlie Streets and Andy Glover, experienced canal workers with 25 years working on the Rochdale Canal between them, made the grim discovery. Andy even knew Lindsay, having seen her once or twice whilst working on the canal near her home in Cambridge Street.
Massive Investigation Yields DNA Evidence
In the years since the discovery of Lindsay’s body, police have taken hundreds of witness statements and spoken to more than 5,000 people. More than 1,200 vehicles were examined in the first year of the investigation.
Detectives have investigated a number of criminals free at the time of the murder. John Taylor, jailed for life in 2002 for the murder of Leanne Tiernan, and John Oswin, jailed for life in 1998 for two rapes, have both been investigated, but no evidence has been found to link either to Lindsay’s murder.
In April 2016, West Yorkshire Police announced that a DNA profile had been obtained by a team of forensic specialists. The force said they were really interested in developing further the DNA profile, though police did not disclose where the DNA had been found. In November 2016, a 63-year-old man from Bradford was arrested on suspicion of the murder, but he was later released on police bail.
Police Approach New Witnesses
Officers said they were also approaching a number of specific potential witnesses, mainly in the Hebden Bridge and wider Halifax area, who have been identified by the investigation.
Senior investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector James Entwistle said detectives remain very firmly committed to doing everything they can to get justice for Lindsay, and to give her family the answers they still so desperately need after all these years.
Speaking on the 30th anniversary of Lindsay’s disappearance in November 2024, DCI Entwistle said Lindsay Rimer was a 13-year-old child who lived in Hebden Bridge with her mum, her dad, her brothers and sisters. He described her as a bright, inquisitive, independent girl who did what any 13-year-old girl should be allowed to do on 7 November 1994. She went to the shop, called via the Trades Club to see her mum, then someone brutally murdered her, and left her body in the canal, hoping that no one in the family would ever know what had happened.
No Immediate Developments Expected
DCI Entwistle added that the arrest comes as a result of continued focus on progressing the investigation. Detectives are keeping Lindsay’s family updated and, whilst they appreciate the understandable public interest that the arrest will bring, they do not anticipate any immediate developments at this stage.
He urged anyone with vital information to do the right thing and tell police what they know, stating that although it is now more than 30 years since Lindsay was murdered, investigators remain convinced there is someone out there who has information that could finally help to ease her family’s pain.
Family Stuck in Overwhelming Grief
Speaking last year, Kate Rimer described the void her sister’s death had created. She explained that when you’ve experienced a death in the family you’re allowed to move on from it. You can forge a life where you encompass grief, but it doesn’t overwhelm it.
But the family are stuck in this overwhelm all the time because they don’t have closure, she said. They can only move on when they know who is responsible for killing their sister.
Kate added that the killer has been free for 30 years and the family have served a sentence of 30 years of grief. She played her sister in a police reconstruction of Lindsay’s last known movements when the investigation was launched at the time. She was 20 then, but just wanted to help as she was the same build and looked like Lindsay.
Community Still Haunted by Unsolved Murder
Before Lindsay’s murder, Hebden Bridge seemed like a very safe place to live, but the fact that her murderer may still be amongst residents still troubles many. As Lindsay’s mother Geri Rimer commented in 1999 on the fifth anniversary of Lindsay’s disappearance, it happened in this community, it still affects this community, and she believed that someone from this community did this to Lindsay.
New posters featuring Lindsay’s picture have gone up around Hebden Bridge as part of recent appeals for information, with an increased police presence in the town.
Juliet Rimer said it has been 30 years but Lindsay didn’t deserve this and they owe it to her as her family to keep doing this. She wants someone to come forward with information, because you never know that tiny piece of information might be the missing piece in the puzzle and might just fit everything together and put this to rest.
The arrest marks a significant development in one of West Yorkshire’s most haunting unsolved cases, offering a glimmer of hope to a family who have endured three decades of unanswered questions and unrelenting grief.
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