A new true crime podcast revisiting the unsolved murder of Lisa Hession has launched on the 36th anniversary of her death.

Testimony looks back at the murder of the Leigh schoolgirl, speaking to those who knew the 14-year-old victim, campaigners who are fighting for justice, and police who are still trying to find the killer today.

The two-part documentary is presented by Neal Keeling, chief reporter at the Manchester Evening News, who reported on the original story in 1984.

He explains that the podcast has offered a new “powerful” way to tell the tragic story.

Neal said: “When I listened to the ‘rough rushes’, it dawned on me that we had found the most powerful way of explaining an unsolved murder which has haunted my career.

“A 14-year-old girl was strangled 200 yards from her front door. I have revisited the case many times over 36 years.

“As a 61-year-old, incurable newsprint addict, I believe a podcast has delivered the poignancy, pain, tragedy, and burning desire to see justice better than a thousand words.”

The first episode – ‘The tragic murder of Lisa Hession’ – establishes what happened on the night of the murder on December 8, 1984.

Martin Bottomley, head of Greater Manchester Police’s Cold Case Unit, walks Neal through Lisa’s last steps, before she was strangled to death in an alleyway behind Rugby Road in Leigh.

Neal also speaks to friends of Lisa, including Anita Webb who, in an emotional interview, anguishes on how her best friend was fighting for her lifeless than two minutes from her door.

The second part of the podcast – ‘A shadow hanging over Leigh’ – examines the original investigation in 1984, and looks into the theories about who attacked Lisa that night.

Andrea Aldred, who runs a social media campaign to get justice for Lisa, believes that the killer was “infatuated” with the victim.

She said: “I think Lisa’s killer was infatuated with her. She was a very liked girl. Where she lived is where he is from.

“She had rejected him in some kind of way as a friend or coming on too strong.

“And that led him into wanting to be with her more and more in his head to eventually doing what he did on that night.”

Neal also explores the potential links between the killer and a serial sex attacker who assaulted three young girls in the Leigh area in the four months before Lisa’s murder.

Testimony is a Laudable production from the Manchester Evening News. Laudable is a Google News Initiative that puts audio journalism at the heart of local news story telling.

You can listen to episode one and episode two of Testimony on all major podcasting platforms, including Spotify and Apple.

For exclusive, immersive content, you can download the Entale app on iOS or Android.

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