A CHILD killer dubbed the ‘Beast of Wombwell’ died of natural causes before he could be charged with the murder of another teenager, an inquest has was told.
Peter Pickering, 80, died in a psychiatric hospital last in March.
He was convicted of killing Shirley Boldy from Wombwell in 1972 and had been in secure hospitals since admitting her manslaughter by diminished responsibility.
Pickering was awaiting sentence after being found guilty of the rape and false imprisonment of an 18-year-old earlier this year, which took place just weeks before he killed Shirley.
His convictions for the rape came about as a result of a renewed investigation by West Yorkshire Police into the murder of Wakefield schoolgirl Elsie Frost who was killed in 1965.
Elsie was attacked and stabbed, and her body was found by a dog walker. The case was reopened by police in 2015. Pickering died before he could be charged by police.
An inquest at Reading Town Hall today was told Pickering died at Thornford Park Hospital in Berkshire on March 25, where he had been held since 2014 after being moved from Broadmoor Hospital.
A post mortem examination revealed Pickering died of a retroperitoneal haemorrhage due to a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm. It also showed he was suffering from heart disease and the hearing was told Pickering had previously suffered a heart attack in 1996.
