Dad of Nikki Allan searched all night for murdered girl

A statement from David Allan was read out at Newcastle Crown Court as prosecutors build their case against suspected killer, David Boyd.

The jury has been told Nikki had been playing near her home in the Wear Garth area of Sunderland when she went missing late on October 7 in 1992.

Read more: Sunderland schoolgirl Nikki Allan 'stabbed through heart'

Nikki Allan (Image: Contributor)

The alarm over Nikki’s disappearance in the close-knit community was raised shortly before 10pm that night and a search involving dozens of people from the area was launched.

In his statement David Allan, who was then no longer with Nikki’s mother, Sharon, said: “I drove about in my mam’s car looking for Nikki.

“We looked all over the east end of Sunderland and even drove to Hendon beach about three times.

“I was so distressed I couldn’t see properly to drive. I couldn’t believe Nikki could be in that area and not have been found, given the dozens of people I had seen looking for her.

“It would have been about 7.20am when we arrived at home.

“I stayed there during the morning until my brother-in-law told us Nikki’s body had been found.”

Boyd, 55, of Chesterton Court, Norton, Stockton, who lived near Nikki and knew her family allegedly lured her to a disused building before killing her by shattering her skull with a brick and stabbing her several times.

The court heard Boyd, who was 25 at the time, was in a relationship with Caroline Branton, a woman 20 years his senior and was living with her in block of flats with her son and daughter.

Nikki Allan (Image: Contributor)

She would sometimes babysit Nikki and her sisters, the court heard, but that night she was out celebrating a friend's birthday at the Boar's Head pub.

In her statement, she told police: “Thinking back I don't really remember David talking about it. I don't remember discussing it with him.

"I don't think David had much to do with Nikki Allan before her death. I don't remember David and Nikki in a room together.”

In another statement Ms Branton's son, Colin, said he "didn't like" Boyd, who was also known as Bell and Smith, and that he was one of the reasons why he decided to with an aunt as a child.

Ms Branton’s daughter, who is also called Caroline and who also used to babysit for Nikki, and said Boyd, would have known who she was.

She said: “David Bell was a close friend of Nikki’s uncle so it is inconceivable he would not know who Nikki Allan was.

“The Garths at that time was close knit and most people knew each other.

“The kids ran freely throughout all of the landings.”

Read next:

• Nikki Allan: Jurors in Sunderland murder trial selected
• Nikki Allan: Murder trial is due to start on April 20
• Man denies murder of Sunderland schoolgirl Nikki Allan

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Jurors have been shown grainy CCTV footage said to be Boyd walking with Nikki to the scene where she was fatally attacked.

Artist's sketch of the suspect (Image: Contributor)

Artist's sketch of the suspect (Image: Contributor)

Witness Margaret Hodgson said she saw a girl skipping to catch up with a man walking ahead of her in the area on the night.

Four days later, Mrs Hodgson helped a police artist to produce a sketch of the man.

Prosecutor Richard Wright KC, when he opened the case last Thursday, said the sketch bore a “striking resemblance” to photos of Boyd taken around the time.

On Monday, Mr Wright read a statement from the defendant’s mother, Margaret Bell, in which she described how Boyd came to be photographed at her home in Stanley during a Christmas gathering when he was about 25.

David Boyd at around the time of Nikki's death (Image: Contributor)

The jury has previously heard that Boyd was not considered a suspect at the time, and that another man, George Heron, was prosecuted and cleared of Nikki’s murder.

The trial continues.