Nikki Allan murder trial: Man accused of Sunderland girl's killing was questioned by police in 1992, 2018 and 2019, court told

The seven-year-old's body was examined by a pathologist after it was found in the Old Exchange Building in Sunderland in 1992.

Richard Wright KC said: "The postmortem findings can be summarised as evidence of blunt force trauma to the head and multiple stab wounds to the torso.

"The injuries would be consistent with a scenario in which Nikki was punched or slapped to the face outside the building, causing a bleeding injury.

"She was thereafter struck multiple blows to the head with the brick found on the ground floor in that end room.

"These blows would have likely rendered her unconscious, they were certainly savage blows that shattered her skull.

"After she had sustained the blunt force trauma, she was stabbed a total of 37 times, with many of the stab wounds causing damage to important organs and blood vessels."

The court heard DNA matching Boyd's profile was found on Nikki's cycling shorts and t-shirt.

Mr Wright said: "In summary, the DNA profile of the defendant is represented in four distinct areas of Nikki’s clothing and across two separate items of clothing.

"In fact, the only male DNA profile detected more than once matches that of Boyd."

Boyd's DNA sample had been obtained by the police on October 4 2017 when he was visited at his home address in a mass screening exercise during a re-investigation of the murder.

The court heard Boyd had been questioned during the police house-to-house inquiries in 1992.

He said he had run an errand to a chip shop then returned home by 10pm on the night of Nikki's death, which Mr Wright said was an attempt to give himself an alibi.

Mr Wright said Boyd was not treated as a suspect during the initial police investigation but was arrested on suspicion of murder on April 17, 2018.

Mr Wright told showed jurors video footage of Boyd's arrest, which also captured the words he said and added: "In particular he was recorded as saying "I haven't got any involvement in it", but then asking, "what evidence haveyou got anyway".

During several police interviews Boyd denied any involvement in the killing of Nikki and said his DNA could have been present on her clothing as a result of him spitting down onto the path below while he was on his veranda.

He was re-interviewed in 2019.

Mr Wright said Boyd was "never consistent for long" in his answers.

The trial continues.