Yahoo News She kissed her boyfriend goodnight and began to walk home - she never made it back alive
In a school garden bathed in rays of winter sun is a plaque next to a silver birch tree. They are there to make sure one woman is never forgotten.
A simple gold inscription is embossed on the slate memorial. The sapling replaced a cherry blossom which was planted in the same soil four decades ago but destroyed in a storm in 2022.
They lie in The Quadrangle at Bedford High School in Leigh where Lisa Jane Hession was once a pupil. A cross country runner with Leigh Harriers, talented gymnast and confident 14-year-old, she was outgoing and popular.
But on the night of December 8, 1984 - 40 years ago today - she was found strangled in an alleyway near her home in the town. She was the victim of a sex attack and the culprit has never been caught.
In the months that followed, Neil Stephan, a classmate, and others found a way of making sure the girl with a zest for life was forever remembered at her school. A cherry tree, loved for its majestic blossom, was planted in the grounds and a plaque bearing her name was installed. Pupils also planted daffodils.
When the tree was destroyed, plans to replace it were met with overwhelming support from the local community. And now it has been planted.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Neil recalled the impact the teen's death had on the community.
"I will never forget the Monday morning at school following the weekend Lisa died", he said.
"That was a very black day. All the girls were crying and the police were everywhere - at the school too.
"I remember Lisa very well. She sat in class at the front. Every time I came into class Lisa would say to me 'who you gawping at?' - I was tall and lanky at the time.
"She was very popular and very outgoing. A lovely girl. I have never forgotten her. We have to keep a memorial to her.
"I think the school's current pupils should be told about her and make sure any new memorial is cared for. I hope that one day the person who took her life is identified."
Neil provided the silver birch sapling to replace the original tree.
Louise Brandwood Price, a technician at the school, had the idea for a new tree and created a new plaque.
She has worked in the woodwork and pottery departments at the school for 28 years. She said: "I remember Lisa's passing when I was a teenager and have walked past her memorial tree during work a million times. I think it is only decent and respectful to Lisa to care for the area. It keeps her memory alive and shows ongoing support."
Tonight (December 8) a candle-lit vigil will take place to mark the anniversary of Lisa's death. It will follow her final footsteps on that night.
Lisa had been allowed by her mother, Christine, to attend a gathering of friends at a house in Leigh Road, Leigh. A condition was that she was home by 10.30pm and her reward for doing so was to be allowed to go to her school's disco two nights later.
At 10.15pm she kissed her boyfriend, Craig Newell, 15, good night at the gate of the house and began to walk home. She went through the town centre and along St Helens Road where she was last seen at 10.35pm, before turning into Buck Street. At that point she was a minute's walk from her front door in Bonnywell Road. She never made it.
A father and son out walking their dog found Lisa's body in an alleyway behind Rugby Road at five minutes before midnight that Saturday. She was lying on her back in a recess which led to garage doors. She had been 200 yards from home.
When Lisa had not returned home her mother began searching for her. Three times she unknowingly walked past the entrance to the ginnel where Lisa lay. She later recalled how on her final search she saw a police Panda car driving past her house. Officers were trying to find the alleyway in which a child's body had been found.
Christine later recalled: "I stood on a corner watching for her white boots to come along the pavement. I felt if only I could see them everything would be all right. But she never came."
At 11.45 pm Lisa's then 71-year-old grandma, Ellen, who shared the family home, had phoned police. When they arrived they told Christine a child had been assaulted and was at Leigh Infirmary. In the weeks after the murder she said: "I knew it was her. But I still prayed that it could be someone else's child. I went to look at her and she just seemed to be sleeping - except for the bruises on her lips where the man must have tried to stop her screaming. I wish I had reached out to touch her, but I couldn't. I felt numb."
Three days after the murder, police revealed that three young women had been victims of sex attacks in the previous four months within a mile of where Lisa was murdered. Chillingly, the attacker had threatened to kill the women during the assaults. One incident had been the day before Lisa was killed. Police later issued an E-fit picture of the attacker.
The possibility that the same man was responsible for all four attacks - and a fifth in May 1985 on Buck Street - the last place where Lisa was seen alive - remains.
At an inquest into Lisa's death in April 1985, pathologist, Dr Geoffrey Garrett, said her death had been caused by pressure on her neck, consistent with her T-shirt being tightened around her throat. Her skirt was pulled up around her waist and her underwear was ripped.
It was believed the killer pulled the T-shirt tight with one hand and had his other over Lisa's mouth. The coroner, Mr David Blakey, recorded a verdict of unlawful killing but observed that the attacker may not have intended to kill her.
Martin Bottomley head of GMP's Cold Case Unit said: "I am convinced that in Lisa's case there is a relative or a close friend of the killer who knows what he has done and has covered up for him. Or if they don't know definitively they very heavily suspect. My feeling is that for 40 years someone has protected him."
It is believed that when Lisa reached Buck Street someone approached her and either persuaded her or made her walk into the alley behind Rugby Road. "It was either someone she knows or a complete stranger and the jury is out on that. It is more than likely somebody localish to the area. His intentions were purely sexual."
The night before Lisa died, on December 7, a 17-year-old girl was walking along Central Avenue, Leigh, when a man exposed himself, seized her and said: "If you make any noise I'll kill you". He tried to push the girl to the ground but she managed to flee.
Mr Bottomley said: "We can't link Lisa's murder to the other attacks definitively because we have no forensic evidence (from them). But the circumstances of the various attacks or near misses tends to suggest that there is a sexual predator out there at the time who has escalated his behaviour resulting in Lisa's death.
"It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that there was a man in the area indecently exposing himself and then separately the killer comes along and attacks Lisa. But the likelihood is more that there is one person involved. You shouldn't believe in coincidences when the instances of sexual assault is so close in proximity and time. We are not talking four years, we are talking all within four months," said Mr Bottomley.
In a report dated March 6, 1985, prepared by Detective Terence Millard, four months after Lisa's murder, he revealed that by then 3,200 people had been interviewed in addition to the 1,300 spoken to during house to house enquiries. There were 1,060 telephone calls received, and two suspects arrested.
One of the suspects was arrested soon after the murder and has since died. Another person who was being held in prison in Merseyside on suspicion of another offence was also quizzed. No action was taken against either.
In addition five boys who were at the gathering which Lisa had attended before she was killed were also interviewed. At the time Det Supt Millard said that in connection with the boys he was "happy with Inquiries" - a euphemism for none of them being under suspicion.
Mr Bottomley added: "We have had other names thrown into the inquiry which we have been able to eliminate, usually through DNA. We have a partial DNA profile of the suspect from the scene which if we got the right name would help us prove it was him. You can never convict someone solely on DNA evidence, you have to have other contextual evidence as well - such as did he live in the area at the time, did he come home late at night, was he behaving strangely according to wife or partner or relative, did he know Lisa, did Lisa know him."
Witnesses spoken to at the time told police that on the Monday and the Tuesday that Lisa was killed, a man was seen watching her and on the Wednesday he followed her home.
In 2011, GMP carried out a mass swabbing of men in the Leigh and Wigan area in a bid to identify the killer from the partial DNA they hold for the case. But no match was found.
A reward of £50,000 remains for information leading to the identification and conviction of Lisa's killer. Her boyfriend at the time, Craig Newell, does not wish to speak of the case, but he told the M.E.N: "I remember her in my heart every day."
Ryan Daly has organised today's vigil, with friend, Andrea Aldred Ashcroft, and they also set up the Justice For Lisa Hession Facebook Page. They believe that Lisa's killer was someone who lived in Leigh, knew her, and was infatuated with her.
Andrea said: "Where she lived is where he is from. I think she had rejected him in some kind of way as a friend for 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."
Speaking of the vigil, Ryan said: "The idea behind the walk is lighting a symbolic path for Lisa that would have led her home."
Mr Bottomley said: “In what is the 40th anniversary of Lisa’s death, we want to let her loved ones, friends and the community know that we are committed to not losing hope on getting answers. This case has been subject to a number of reviews since 1984. The reviews have concentrated on using advances in forensic techniques and investigating all information provided to GMP by members of the public
“Lisa had her whole life ahead of her. Somebody took that away from her. Her mother, Christine, never got to see her daughter grow up, and she died never knowing who killed Lisa.
“Sadly, the case still remains undetected but will always be open until Lisa’s killer is brought to justice, and any information received will be followed up appropriately."
Two months after the murder of Lisa, Det Sup Millard asked how anyone could kill Lisa, such a "sweet schoolkid". He said he was confident the killer would be caught and vowed he would not rest until he was. There is no doubt his dedication was authentic, but 40 years on, the man who snuffed out Lisa's life has evaded justice.
Anyone with information can contact the GMP Cold Case Unit on 0161 856 5978. There is a £50,000 reward for information leading to the identification and conviction of the killer. Alternatively, reports can be made anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
