Evil child killer David Boyd could have more victims who have never come forward - that's the view of Sharon Henderson whose little girl Nikki Allan was murdered by the convicted sex offender in 1992.
Sharon endured a torturous wait for justice as Nikki's murder remained unsolved for more than 30 years. But on Friday a jury at Newcastle Crown Court found Boyd guilty of the harrowing crime.
The court heard how the 55-year-old was convicted of indecently assaulting a nine-year-old girl in 1999 and of breaching the peace in 1986 after approaching four children aged eight to 10, grabbing one and asking for a kiss.
And now Sharon has urged anyone else who may have been harmed by the predator to come forward.
The 56-year-old said: "I'm hoping that if there's more victims that they come forward, now that he's locked up and he can't harm them anymore."
Nikki vanished from near her home at Sunderland's Wear Garth flats on October 7, 1992.
Her body was found in the derelict Old Exchange building the following morning. Nikki had been stabbed multiple times and smashed over the head with a brick.
Nikki's murder became one of the region's most notorious unsolved killings until a new breakthrough in the case came more than 25 years later.
Boyd was arrested at his Stockton home in 2018 after advances in DNA techniques led to the killer's profile being found on Nikki’s clothes.
Sharon, who carried out her own investigations into her daughter's death distinctively remembers men lurking around the verandas at the flats where Boyd also lived.
"These people would stand there on the verandas looking down," she said. "Sometimes you thought you were just being paranoid."
On the day Boyd was arrested Sharon travelled down to the street where he lived on Teesside.
His home was taped off, but she spoke to families that lived nearby.
"I went down to his house the day he was arrested," she explained. "The families were all crying. They said they used to let the bairns play with his dog."
There was no evidence that Nikki was sexually assaulted, but Sharon believes this was the motivation behind her daughter's death.
"When you look at his history he must have been going to abuse her," she said. "I have read about some sick crimes but Nikki's murder is one of the sickest crimes I have heard of."
Boyd will be sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court next week and is likely to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
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