'Lindsay's murder still affects town 30 years on'

BBC Two young women, an older man and two older women stand together in a park holding a poster appealing for informationBBC
The Rimer family have renewed their appeal for information about Lindsay's murder

The family of a murdered girl have held a memorial event 30 years after her disappearance.

Lindsay Rimer left her home in Hebden Bridge on November 7, 1994, and her body was found in the Rochdale canal the following April.

Lindsay’s sister, Kate Rimer, said the event at Calder Holmes Park, attended by more than 100 people, was to thank the community for supporting the family and reignite the appeal for information.

She added: “For a long time we’ve been aware of the effect of Lindsay’s murder on the whole town and today is to try to show that."

A poster - showing two images of Lindsay Rimer a teenage girl with curly hair - on a tree in a green park
Lindsay Rimer was murdered 30 years ago

Ms Rimer added: “We’re incredibly aware that there were children Lindsay’s age who were massively impacted by her disappearance and her murder.

“They’ve all grown up. They’re now in their forties with families.

“There are shopkeepers, business owners, residents who have been here a very long time and who were as rocked as we were as a family after the disappearance of my sister.”

Scott Borrows, who went to school with Lindsay, was among those attending the event and said he hoped the renewed appeal would lead to new information.

“I’ve come to hope that somebody will come forward and pull on their conscience and admit to what they’ve done.

“We’ve all got older and Lindsay hasn’t. She’s still a little girl.

"It resonates more the older you get.

“You look back and think she’s so small, she was a baby really.”

About 100 people stand together in a park with brown autumn leaves behind
More than 100 people gathered to remember Lindsay Rimer

Neighbour Cynthia Gault, who knew Lindsay as a child, said she joined the searches at the time of her disappearance.

“It was a huge, terrible tragedy for the whole town and everybody who was here then remembers it.

“I think it’s the understanding about how it must feel for the whole family to have lost someone and not know how or why or have any resolution.

"It’s just an open-ended tragedy.”

Also at the memorial event was Gordon Frankland, who said despite not living in Hebden Bridge at the time of Lindsay’s murder he still felt the impact on the community.

He said: “I know that this case has affected the community every day in effect and we just want to show support for the Rimer family and everyone who’s been affected by it.

“To think that someone could still be out there who knows something in the community or was involved in some way, it’s a daily occurrence for some people.”

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