Nikki Allan murder trial: Sunderland girl was stabbed eight times in the heart, jurors told

Neighbour David Boyd, who was 25 at the time, took Nikki Allan to the Old Exchange Building in Sunderland, where he beat her with a brick and shattered her skull before stabbing her multiple times in the chest, it is claimed.

Prosecutors said Nikki "skipped to her death" as she was lured away from the block of flats where she lived close to the River Wear late in the evening on October 7 1992.

She was found dead the following morning inside the derelict building by a 16-year-old boy.

Boyd of Chesterton Court, Norton, Stockton, Teesside, denies murder and is being tried by a jury at Newcastle Crown Court.

The now 55-year-old is accused of leading seven-year-old Nikki to a disused building in an area of wasteland in, shattering her skull with a brick and stabbing her multiple times.

Today, April 27, pathologist Dr Peter Nigel Cooper described the schoolgirl's injuries to jurors and told of how the child had been stabbed multiple times in the heart, lung and aorta, a main artery.

The medical expert, who worked on the case at the time of the murder, testified that Nikki suffered eight stab wounds to the heart, seven to the pericardial sac, the area around the heart.

She was also stabbed 24 times in her left lung, twice in the aorta and in the liver.

He told prosecutor Richard Wright KC said: "A knife had been used repeatedly, essentially, in the same location to produce a large gaping wound.

"In any event we are talking about a considerable amount of force.

"Clearly anything that penetrates the heart or aorta is going to cause catastrophic internal bleeding."

Dr Cooper added the knife had been fully inserted into the child's body and that the deepest cut was just under four inches.

When prosecutor Richard Wright KC asked: "It didn't have the ability to go any deeper?"

He replied: "That's exactly right."

The schoolgirl sustained a number of external and internal injuries including a large puncture wound, caused by multiple stabbings in the same place. Shewas also found with two other stab wounds on her torso.

The knife had completely cut through the cartilage of one rib, almost severed another and there was a cut on one her her ribs.

However, he concluded that she was likely unconscious, but not dead, at the time of the stabbing.

He added: "We're talking about a really small bleed knife. It could be a small kitchen knife or a small pen knife, for example.

"She is likely to have been unconscious.

"The natural thing is either to ward off the weapon or grab hold of it.

"As the number of stab wounds increases so does the defensive injuries. She had an enormous amount of stab wounds but no defensive wounds."

Jurors were shown computer generated photographs of her injuries as well as grim photographs of the scene which revealed blood on the floor, the walls,and on a plank of wood.

Nikki was also found with a fractured skull and brain injuries as well as bruising to her head.

Dr Cooper concluded she was hit at least twice with a "considerable amount of force".

The pathologist described how the scene where her body was found was covered in "excessive blood staining". There was also a brick present.

Nikki was discovered with a blood stained face, chest and arms. Her hair was matted with "large quantities of blood".

Dr Cooper added: "Clearly, the main injury to the right side of the head can be explained by a weapon, such as the brick.

"There are a number of different ways that somebody can be gripped or dragged but the yellow post mortem injuries in the back suggest that she had been dragged with her back going across the ground."

The trial continues.