A grieving mother spoke last night about her suffering, ten years after the murder of her daughter.

Seven-year-old Nikki Allen was murdered near her Sunderland home, stabbed 37 times and her head struck several times with a brick.

Nikki's mother, Sharon Henderson, said: "It never gets any easier.

"You just learn to act your life . . . otherwise I'll end up with no children.

"I need to be strong for them. And hopefully one day I will get justice."

The Old Exchange Buildings, the former warehouse in which Nikki's body was discovered, has recently been refurbished and opened as a function room.

Sharon said: "I wanted it pulled down. I still have nightmares about it. In the weeks after Nikki was killed, I went there just to try to work things out for myself.

"It was derelict then and I still dream about the dark and the damp.

"Maybe one day I'll pluck up the courage to go inside now it's been done up and maybe the nightmares will stop."

Sharon, who remarried last year, hopes that one day the killer will be caught.