David Boyd

A child killer who murdered a seven-year-old girl in 1992 has been jailed for at least 29 years.

David Boyd , 55, lured Nikki Allan to a derelict building in Sunderland where he hit her on The Head with a brick and stabbed her 37 times.

A DNA match for Boyd, Who Knew Nikki and the Old Exchange where she died, was found on her clothes in 2017.

Boyd, from Stockton, was sentenced to Life After at Newcastle Crown Court .

Nikki was last seen skipping to keep up with Boyd as he walked towards the Old Exchange shortly before 22:00 on 7 October 1992.

He hit her on The Head with a brick, fracturing her skull, And Then repeatedly stabbed in her chest before dragging her down a flight of stairs and dumping her body in The Basement .

Judge Mrs Justice Lambert said Nikki " knew and trusted" Boyd and he " took advantage of her young age and naivety" when he " tricked" or " lied" to get her to go with him.

The Judge said Nikki's " fate was sealed" when she screamed and Boyd decided to " kill her to silence her".

Boyd struck Nikki in The Face " to shut her up" then lifted her and pushed her into the " Pitch Black building" The Judge said, adding The Girl " must have been petrified".

Nikki was attacked and killed in another room suggesting she had Run Away As Far as she could, Mrs Justice Lambert said.

" Her fear, as she saw you lurching towards her in The Dark , is unimaginable" before the " vicious and brutal" killing, Boyd was told.

" It must have been a truly terrifying experience for this seven-year-old girl, " The Court heard.

The Judge said Nikki's murder had " shocked and bewildered" the community of Hendon, in The East end of Sunderland, for 31 years but as time passed Boyd would have " thought with some relief" that he had " got away with it".

But the science of DNA had also advanced which allowed detectives to match samples from Nikki's clothes to her killer.

Mrs Justice Lambert said under current rules she would have jailed Boyd for a minimum of 37 years but she had to comply with the sentencing regulations in 1992 which suggested a lesser sentence, albeit one " well in excess of 20 years".

In a statement read to The Court , Nikki's mother Sharon Henderson said Her Daughter was a " bright and sparky child" who had a " beautiful smile and was loved".

She was 25 when Nikki was murdered and was " accused of being a bad mother" with " local people angry towards me and not towards the person responsible".

She Said Boyd " destroyed" her family's lives but she had " fought tirelessly and endlessly" for justice.

Ms Henderson said she had suffered mentally and physically and " at times targeted those who I believed were covering for others" which led to her own arrest.

She Said : " I felt so frustrated over The Years , as I felt I had not been listened to. "

Source of news: bbc.com