Doves released in tribute to Elsie Frost

Picture by Allan McKenzie/YWNG - 09/10/2015 - Press - Elsie Frost Memorial Tribute - St George's Church, Lupset, Wakefield, England - Elsie Frost's brother & sister, Colin Frost & Anne Cleave, release the doves in memory of Elsie.Picture by Allan McKenzie/YWNG - 09/10/2015 - Press - Elsie Frost Memorial Tribute - St George's Church, Lupset, Wakefield, England - Elsie Frost's brother & sister, Colin Frost & Anne Cleave, release the doves in memory of Elsie.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/YWNG - 09/10/2015 - Press - Elsie Frost Memorial Tribute - St George's Church, Lupset, Wakefield, England - Elsie Frost's brother & sister, Colin Frost & Anne Cleave, release the doves in memory of Elsie.
Fourteen white doves were released in memory of murdered schoolgirl Elsie Frost.

The birds were set free at the same time and on the same day Elsie was killed 50 years ago

And they flew from St George’s Church in Lupset close to home in which she grew up in on Manor Haigh Road.

Each dove represented a year of the 14-year-old’s life.

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Picture by Allan McKenzie/YWNG - 09/10/2015 - Press - Elsie Frost Memorial Tribute - St George's Church, Lupset, Wakefield, England - Elsie Frost's brother & sister, Colin Frost & Anne Cleave, release the doves in memory of Elsie.Picture by Allan McKenzie/YWNG - 09/10/2015 - Press - Elsie Frost Memorial Tribute - St George's Church, Lupset, Wakefield, England - Elsie Frost's brother & sister, Colin Frost & Anne Cleave, release the doves in memory of Elsie.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/YWNG - 09/10/2015 - Press - Elsie Frost Memorial Tribute - St George's Church, Lupset, Wakefield, England - Elsie Frost's brother & sister, Colin Frost & Anne Cleave, release the doves in memory of Elsie.

Elsie was stabbed to death near to the Calder and Hebble Canal on October 9, 1965.

It is thought she had been walking home from an afternoon sailing with her friends at what is now known as Horbury Lagoon.

Police believe she left the lagoon at around 3.55pm. Her body was found by a dog walker, by the ABC steps at around 4.15pm.

On Friday her elder sister Anne Cleave and younger brother Colin Frost paid tribute to Elsie’s life in a moving memorial service at the church.

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Picture by Allan McKenzie/YWNG - 09/10/2015 - Press - Elsie Frost Memorial Tribute - St George's Church, Lupset, Wakefield, England - Elsie Frost's brother & sister, Colin Frost & Anne Cleave, release the doves in memory of Elsie.Picture by Allan McKenzie/YWNG - 09/10/2015 - Press - Elsie Frost Memorial Tribute - St George's Church, Lupset, Wakefield, England - Elsie Frost's brother & sister, Colin Frost & Anne Cleave, release the doves in memory of Elsie.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/YWNG - 09/10/2015 - Press - Elsie Frost Memorial Tribute - St George's Church, Lupset, Wakefield, England - Elsie Frost's brother & sister, Colin Frost & Anne Cleave, release the doves in memory of Elsie.

Colin, wearing a yellow ribbon broach featuring a picture of his sister, read aloud “The Knock on the Door”, a short story he had written about his family and what happened when they received news of Elsie’s death.

He said his sister Elsie was like a third mum to him, he said: “Mum three was taken away from the little boy but not so he could see her each night, like his mum when she returned from work, not like he could go over and visit her like he could with mum two [Anne].

“I would like to tell you that the family lived happily ever after, but we didn’t, we couldn’t because we missed our daughter, our sister.”

Anne, stood among lit remembrance candles , told guests of the memories they had shared including endless games of doctor and patient and teacher and student.

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Picture by Allan McKenzie/YWNG - 09/10/2015 - Press - Elsie Frost Memorial Tribute - St George's Church, Lupset, Wakefield, England - Elsie Frost's brother & sister, Colin Frost & Anne Cleave, release the doves in memory of Elsie.Picture by Allan McKenzie/YWNG - 09/10/2015 - Press - Elsie Frost Memorial Tribute - St George's Church, Lupset, Wakefield, England - Elsie Frost's brother & sister, Colin Frost & Anne Cleave, release the doves in memory of Elsie.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/YWNG - 09/10/2015 - Press - Elsie Frost Memorial Tribute - St George's Church, Lupset, Wakefield, England - Elsie Frost's brother & sister, Colin Frost & Anne Cleave, release the doves in memory of Elsie.

She said: “Elsie was a lovely little girl. We would chase each other around the house.

“We were full of beans from waking up until sleeping and then some more.”

Mayor of Wakefield Coun June Cliffe, Coun Denise Jeffrey and former Wakefield MP David Hinchliffe were among those at the ceremony.

Mr Hinchliffe said the community was in “admiration” for the “dignified” way Anne and Colin had continued to push for answers about what had happened to Elsie.

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Picture by Allan McKenzie/YWNG - 09/10/2015 - Press - Elsie Frost Memorial Tribute - St George's Church, Lupset, Wakefield, England - Elsie Frost's brother & sister, Colin Frost & Anne Cleave after the memorial service at St George's Church, Lupset.Picture by Allan McKenzie/YWNG - 09/10/2015 - Press - Elsie Frost Memorial Tribute - St George's Church, Lupset, Wakefield, England - Elsie Frost's brother & sister, Colin Frost & Anne Cleave after the memorial service at St George's Church, Lupset.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/YWNG - 09/10/2015 - Press - Elsie Frost Memorial Tribute - St George's Church, Lupset, Wakefield, England - Elsie Frost's brother & sister, Colin Frost & Anne Cleave after the memorial service at St George's Church, Lupset.

He said: “This service has been a wonderful way to mark Elsie’s life and she is still very much remembered in this community, this city and the wider metropolitan district.

“I feel it appropriate also to pay tribute to Anne and Colin and their fight for justice and the way they have gone about it.”

At the end of the service, as the clock struck four, Anne and Colin released the doves.

Colin said: “Today’s been purely about remembering Elsie. We wanted to celebrate her young life.

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“Timing was critical because we finished the service in the window we know Elsie died.

“The doves were just another idea to represent part of Elsie’s life. There were 14 doves for the 14 years of her life.”

Earlier in the day, Anne and Colin had planted a tree at Wakefield Crematorium, adorned with a plaque. Coun Cliffe dedicated the tree to Elsie.

The day of remembrance came a week after police launched a re-investigation into Elsie’s death. Despite the biggest manhunt the city had ever seen, her killer has never been caught.

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Police want to hear from members of Balne Lane Youth Club, which Elsie attended, because they don’t believe they were all spoken to after the murder.

They also want to trace a man in a white coat seen riding a bike near the murder scene that day. He was not interviewed in the original police investigation.

And the identity of someone Elsie may have been seeing in secret - possibly a boyfriend - in the weeks before her death, could also hold clues to the murder, police said.

Anybody with information is asked to call police on 101.

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