Nikki Allan’s family ‘unable to live normal lives’ after Sunderland girl’s killing, court told

Neighbour David Boyd, now 55, took Nikki Allan to a disused building in Sunderland in October 1992, where he shattered her skull with a brick before stabbing her 37 times.

Her body was found inside the Old Exchange Building the following day, after desperate search.

Boyd, who is a sex offender and was 25 at the time, will be given a life sentence at Newcastle Crown Court today after being convicted of her murder earlier this month. At the start of the sentence hearing, prosecutor Richard Wright KC said there was a “sexual component” to the little girl’s murder and read impact statements from Nikki’s grieving mum and dad.

Mr Wright told the court a man named George Heron, who was prosecuted for Nikki’s murder in 1993 but cleared by a jury, is an “innocent man”.

He added: “It is right to acknowledge and re-state publicly that, as two juries have now determined, George Heron played no part in the murder of Nikki Allan.

“He was and is an innocent man.”

Nikki’s mum Sharon Henderson, who stayed outside the courtroom, said in her statement, which was read by Mr Wright: “Nikki was a bright and happy child, always a mammy’s girl.

“She had a beautiful smile and was loved.

“I cannot put into words how i felt on finding out Nikki was missing and ultimately found murdered.

“I had to endure the horror of a trial in 1993 and the acquittal which followed.

“At that time, because of what I was told, I believed that George Heron, the man I believed was responsible, had got away with Nikki’s murder.

“Police had stated they were not looking for anyone else.

“After the acquittal i was accused of being a bad mother, even though my children were looked after.

“Local people were angry towards me, not towards the person responsible for her murder.

“I was left feeling I had to fight for justice for Nikki.

“I fought tirelessly and endlessly. It just became part of my life.”

Ms Henderson said her mental and physical health has suffered over the decades and she has even been arrested herself for trying to get to the truth of what happened to her daughter.

She added: “I have felt so frustrated over the years as I have felt I have not been listened to.

“I was 25 when Nikki was murdered.

“I speak to her all the time, I tell her I will never give up.

“I am 57 now, I have spent over 30 years fighting for justice.

“My life and that of my family has never been the same since Nikki was murdered.

“By murdering Nikki, David Body destroyed not only Nikki’s life, the life of my beautiful daughter, but my life and the lives of my daughters and grandchildren.

“We have not been able to live normal lives since that day.”

Nikki’s father David Allan said in his statement, which was also read by the prosecutor, he found it difficult to put into words the affect the murder of his daughter has had on his life.

Mr Allan said his life changed “forever” on the night his daughter went missing then was found murdered.

He said: “I have feelings of anger and hatred.

“I know I will never be able to forgive the man responsible for her murder.

“I have used alcohol to help me cope and get to sleep.

“I lost the stable relationship I was in, undoubtedly due to me being unable to cope of make sense of what happened to Nikki.

“People have no way of knowing or understanding what is going on inside my head.

“I have never been able to walk past the building in which she was found. I live close by and it is on the man through road.

“I see it regularly and it is a constant physical reminder to me.

“I think about Nikki lying on her own in the cold in that building that night, a building I drove past countless times searching for her.”

Mr Allan said since Nikki’s death he has been unable to attend funerals, other than those of close family, as they remind him of what happened and seeing his little girl’s coffin in the hearse.

He added that he has found his situation “overwhelming” at times and said: “The man responsible for Nikki’s murder has lived his life for 30 years.

“Nikki didn’t get to live hers.

“The conviction and sentence will be a good outcome and means the man responsible can no longer walk the streets but brings little change or comfort to my life, one I have to live without Nikki.”

Nikki’s body was found inside the Old Exchange building the following day, in October 1992.

Boyd, of Chesterton Court, Norton, Stockton, Teesside, was found guilty of murder after a trial.

His conviction ends three decades of anguish over who killed Nikki.

In 1993 George Heron, who was 24 at the time, was charged and went on trial for Nikki’s murder at Leeds Crown Court but was cleared.

In 2014, Northumbria Police arrested 47-year-old serial killer Steven Grieveson, who was already in prison for murdering four teenage boys, on suspicion of Nikki’s murder. He was questioned and bailed but he faced no further action.

In April 2017, the force set up a new team to investigate Nikki’s murder and DNA samples were taken from 839 men who had lived in the area the time of the murder.

Boyd’s sample was taken on October 4 2017.

The court heard modern scientific testing then found DNA matching Boyd on multiple places on Nikki’s clothing.

By then, Boyd had indecently assaulted a nine year old girl at a park in Stockton, Teesside, in April 1999. He had approached the victim and her friend, both of whom he did not know, and asked what they were doing.

He asked the victim if she had any knickers on and then sexually assaulted her when she did not answer.

The girls screamed and ran away and Boyd was picked out at an identity procedure and later convicted of indecent assault.

In 2000 Boyd told a doctor he had feelings of “guilt and shame” about his behaviour and said he had been “depressed and drunk and acted on impulse”.

He then told a probation officer he had had “dirty thoughts” about the victim and had begun to feel excited about the thought of touching the girls.

Boyd said he later felt “ashamed and disgusted” with himself and blamed alcohol for leading him to behave like that.

But he admitted to a probation officer that when he was 22 years old, just three years before he killed Nikki, he began to fantasise about children, particularly young girls.

He confessed he would “think about young girls being naked and what it would be like to touch their body and have sexual intercourse”.

Boyd had also been convicted of breach of the peace in October 1986 after he approached four children, aged between eight and ten, in Sacriston, County Durham then grabbed one of them, a girl, by the arm and asked to kiss her before telling the group not to tell anyone.

In November 1986 he was also convicted of exposure after he ran past an adult female on three occasions while naked from the waist down.

He told a psychiatrist at that time he had been exposing himself to women since he was 16 years old and “couldn’t help it”.

In March 1997 Body was investigated for an offences of indecent exposure on a school field, which involved a 15-year-old girl.

Boyd confessed he had exposed himself to three girls and had been taking drink and drugs but did not know why he acted in that way.

He faced no charges despite the admissions he made. Mr Wright said Boyd was known in 1992 as David Smith or David Bell and was 25 at the time. He lived close to Nikki in the same block of flats at Wear Garth in Sunderland.