David Boyd found guilty Nikki Allan murder in Sunderland after trial

As crimes go, they do not come much more heinous and abhorrent than those of David Boyd, the twisted killer of Sunderland seven-year-old Nikki Allan.

And he may have got away with it, if not for the tireless campaigning of her devastated mother, Sharon Henderson, painstaking police work or the advances in DNA technology.

Sharon Henderson has been pushing for justice for her daughter since 1992 (Image: Contributor)

Read more: Video shows moment Nikki Allan Sunderland murder accused is arrested

Now the monster who walked among us, free to commit more crimes, is behind bars, finally convicted of the sickening murder, a dark stain on a close-knit community’s history.   

A jury at Newcastle Crown Court has today found Boyd, the partner of a woman who used to babysit for the youngster, guilty as charged.

Nikki’s distraught family has been forced to relive the pain and torment he inflicted all those decades ago when he lured the little girl to a derelict old trade building before smashing her skull with a brick and inflicting multiple stab wounds.

Her blood-stained body was found in a basement by a neighbour the morning after she disappeared as part of a desperate search by the community find her.

As well as suffering horrific head injuries, Nikki had been stabbed 37 times.

Somehow, despite a major police operation to find the killer, Boyd, who was then known as Davey Bell or Smith, slipped through the net.

David Boyd was 25 when he murdered Nikki in 1992 (Image: Contributor)

Read more: Man accused of murdering Nikki Allan ‘admits fantasies of young girls'

The 55-year-old will undoubtedly now face a lifetime prison sentence, one he was happy to allow George Heron to serve in his place.

Heron, 24 at the time, lived in the same block of flats in Hendon as Nikki’s family and was arrested as part of the police inquiry.

Boyd, who told police he was out buying fish and chips for Nikki’s uncle when she disappeared late on October 7, 1992, did not come forward to give a police statement until Heron had been arrested and it looked like he was above suspicion.

While on remand awaiting trial George Heron became a figure of hate and was slashed across the face by another prisoner.

George Heron was wrongly accused of Nikki's murder (Image: Picture: NORTH NEWS AND PICTURES)

He was acquitted by a jury at Leeds Crown Court in 1993 after a judge ruled a confession obtained by police was not admissible, to the anger of a community left with a deep sense of injustice.

Heron now lives under a new identity and is no longer believed to be in the Sunderland area.

Boyd, meanwhile, of Chesterton Court, Norton, Stockton, remained free and seven years later was convicted of indecent assault on a nine-year-old girl in Primrose Hill Park, Stockton.

Evidence from a probation officer given to the murder trial at Newcastle Crown Court revealed he had confessed to being sexually attracted to young girls and fantasised about their naked bodies.

His paedophilic predilections appear to have been long-standing and manifest.

As a teenager in 1986, Boyd was convicted of a breach of the peace for approaching four children in Sacriston, aged eight to ten, grabbing one and asking for a kiss.

A crime that would surely be viewed differently today.

There was no evidence of sexual activity with Nikki Allan and the motive behind her death has not been established.

Boyd was not arrested in connection with the Nikki Allan investigation until it was reopened 25 years after her murder.

Read next:

• Nikki Allan murder trial jury hears of find of new DNA evidence
• Nikki Allan: Jury in David Boyd murder trial told how body was found
• Nikki Allan: Jurors see photos and sketches of suspect David Boyd

David Boyd was arrested five years ago (Image: Contributor)

It is now six years since DNA samples, including one from Boyd, were taken by police and four matches with his profile were found on the clothes Nikki was wearing when she was killed.

When this new forensic evidence was put to him following his arrest in April 2018 he suggested it may have been from him spitting over the balcony outside his second-storey flat where Nikki was playing below.

During the trial jurors were told Nikki was seen ‘skipping to her death’ with a man in the direction of the Old Exchange Building on High Street East where her lifeless body would be found the following morning.

Nikki's body was found in the basement (Image: Contributor)

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Harrowingly, witnesses said they heard screams and wailing noises coming from the building at around 10pm when it is thought Nikki was killed, shortly before her disappearance was noticed.

It was said Boyd lacked the courage to give evidence, or face cross examination about his whereabouts or timings, with the prosecutor saying he chose to sit in silence because he knew his lies would be unpicked within seconds.

Richard Wright KC said Nikki’s killer lured her away with a sinister motive in mind before something happened which meant she could not be allowed to live.

Today, 30 years on, now justice has been served, only David Boyd knows what it is.

Nikki Allan (Image: Contributor)