A man has today been found guilty of murdering a schoolgirl more than 30 years ago - after adopting seven false names to evade justice.
David Boyd, 55, had denied murdering seven-year-old Nikki Allan, who was battered, stabbed and dumped in a derelict warehouse.
A court had heard the youngster was hit with a brick and repeatedly knifed in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, in October 1992.
Boyd was only arrested 26 years on - after police had "built a case" against a another man - and Nikki's mother Sharon Henderson, 56, worked detective to identify the right culprit.
Boyd stood trial for murder, during which jurors were told he had a previous conviction for indecent assault on an underage girl and a probation officer said he confessed his "sexual" attraction to young girls.
A tearful Sharon was reduced to tears and could barely speak as she stood on the steps outside of Newcastle Crown Court.
She was escorted away and into a local pub by friends and family.
Nikki’s sister, Stacey Allan, exited the court with her hands in the air and shouted: “Waited my whole life for this me, and we got guilty.”
The teary sibling later added: “I can get on with my life now. I remember everything.
“It’s like winning the lottery."
One family friend walked down the court steps with her hands raised yelling: “Justice.“
”She continued as she walked away: “Justice. That’s all that matters.”
Several police officers stood outside of Newcastle Crown Court, as did various members of the press.
Judge Mrs Justice Christina Lambert warned jurors not to put too much weight on Boyd's previous convictions, which also included a count of breaching the peace in 1986 when he approached four children in Sacriston, County Durham, and grabbed a 10-year-old girl.
But the jury foreman at Newcastle Crown Court confirmed it was a unanimous decision after less than two hours of deliberation to find Boyd guilty.
The guilty verdict was met with huge cheers from the public gallery. Members of Nikki's family stood up shouting 'Yes!' and "Thank you!'.
The public gallery was cleared, with a tearful Sharon led out with the help of her family members.
Nikki's sister Stacey Allan shouted "yes, thank you" as she left court.
Boyd, dressed in a white T-shirt, showed not a flicker of emotion, save for looking across the public gallery as the verdict came.
The Judge Mrs Justice Lambert thanked the jury, and said: "I hope you appreciate the importance of what you have done over the past weeks. This may well be the most important public duty you perform in your life."
The sentencing of Boyd is to be televised on Tuesday May 23, Mrs Lambert added.
Speaking after conviction, Assistant Chief Constable Brad Howe, of Northumbria Police, said: "Today is about justice – for Nikki and her family. We thank them for their patience and strength over the last 30 years and our thoughts very much continue to be with them.
"David Boyd hid his crime, lying about his involvement and prolonging the family’s suffering, knowing all along that he had taken the life of their little girl.
"The investigation into Nikki’s murder has been one of the most complex and comprehensive ever conducted by Northumbria Police.
"I’m extremely proud of the investigative team and all those who played their part in securing this conviction. I further hope this sends a strong message that no matter how long ago an offence took place, we will do everything we can to see justice served."
Richard Wright KC, prosecuting, had said Boyd, then aged 25, was a neighbour of Nikki's family, knew the girl and DNA matching his was found on her clothes.
The investigation into the youngster's death was relaunched by Northumbria Police in 2017 and Boyd, of Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, was arrested.
The prosecution claimed Boyd lured the schoolgirl to her death on the evening of October 7, 1992 when she had been playing out with friends - and was allegedly seen skipping to catch up with him.
Jurors were told Boyd, who lived in the same block of flats as Nikki and was her babysitter's boyfriend, was convicted of indecently assaulting a nine-year-old girl in 1999.
He also was said to have had an "intimate knowledge" of the warehouse where the child's body was found.
He was, 'by his own admission', the last man to see her alive, and matched the description of a man who was spotted by a passer by with a young girl 'skipping behind him', the jury heard.
Setting out the route to a verdict on Wednesday, Mrs Justice Lambert said the prosecution case relies on "circumstantial evidence".
She said: "(There are) different pieces or strands of evidence which, when put together, the prosecution says, leave no doubt that the defendant is guilty."
The defence case was Boyd did not kill Nikki and the strands of evidence are "the result of innocent coincidences", the judge said.
Before sending the jury out on Friday, she told the panel they are not under any pressure of time.
Mrs Lambert said: “Don’t feel under any pressure to return a verdict today or at the beginning of next week. You take as long as you need to go through the issues carefully and make your decision.”
Speaking before the conviction and recalling her crusade to help snag Boyd, Sharon said: "I just decided I had to stand up for myself.
"Three years after she died, with no liaison officer, I felt like she had been forgotten, and she was so young, that just did not feel right."
Speaking afterwards, Nikki's sister Stacey Allan, 39, described it as the 'best day' of her life.
She said: “We never thought that we would see this day, it is an amazing feeling having that verdict. We are ecstatic.
"It is justice at last for Nikki, I am so happy, it is the best day of my life.
"The police have so many lessons to learn, we were starting to give up hope after 25 years.
"But my mum persevered, she never gave up on Nikki, she is an amazing woman."
Timeline of events, from 1992 murder to 2023
- October 7 1992: Nikki Allan had been playing with friends outside the block of flats in Sunderland’s East End where she lived. She is lured away by neighbour David Boyd. At around 10pm she is seen skipping to catch him up as he takes her to the derelict Old Exchange building where he savagely murdered her and left her, dead or dying.
- October 8 1992: Local residents help police to carry out searches of the local area overnight and Nikki’s shoes and jacket are found outside the Old Exchange, some 300 yards from her home. Her body is found in a dark corner of the basement.
- October 1992: Police arrest neighbour George Heron and after three days of questioning, under duress, he admits killing Nikki, having denied it 120 times before.
- Boyd, aged 25 at the time, is never considered as a suspect and he gives a witness statement, after Mr Heron has been charged, explaining his movements on the night of the murder.
- October 1993: Mr Heron is cleared of Nikki’s murder during his trial at Leeds Crown Court on the instructions of the judge, who had deemed some of the interview tapes inadmissible. Mr Heron goes into hiding and is taken in by a religious order. Police say they are not looking for anyone else in connection with the murder.
- Over the following years, Nikki’s mother Sharon Henderson refuses to give up her fight for justice and keeps her daughter’s murder in the public eye, making repeated criticisms of the police inquiries so far.
- April 8 1999: Boyd indecently assaults a nine-year-old girl in a Teesside park. He later tells his probation officer he had sexual fantasies about “young girls” when he was in his early 20s.
- September 2013: A reconstruction of Nikki’s disappearance is shown on the BBC Crimewatch show.
- September 2016: Ms Henderson raises a petition urging the police to reinvestigate.
- April 2017: She meets Northumbria Police’s then chief constable Steve Ashman to discuss the investigation and is told the force is determined to catch the killer.
- October 2017: At around the 25th anniversary of the murder, police announce forensic advances have been made which could crack the case and start to carry out DNA tests on hundreds of men who were living in the area at the time of the murder.
- April 17 2018: Police arrest Boyd, by now a convicted paedophile, on suspicion of Nikki’s murder and he is interviewed several times before being released pending further inquiries.
- April 2019: Boyd is rearrested and questioned.
- In the following years, slowed by the pandemic, police individually approach and DNA test 839 men from around the country who were linked to the case, or the inquiry, to eliminate them from the investigation.
- May 2022: Boyd is charged with Nikki’s murder and he appears before magistrates.
- April 20 2023: The trial opens at Newcastle Crown Court where jurors are shown a chilling video of the scene where Boyd dragged and dumped the little girl’s body. Richard Wright KC, prosecuting, explicitly tells the jury Mr Heron did not kill Nikki and that Boyd did.
