Free to abuse, again and again

Police targeted the wrong man in the search for the killer of 7-year-old Nikki Allan. The murderer David Boyd, a convicted child abuser, continued to offend

David Boyd in 1992, shortly after he murdered Nikki Allan

Episode 5 of my podcast series on the murder of Nikki Allan and her mum Sharon Henderson’s fight for justice will be available from tomorrow, wherever you get your podcasts.

A very welcome endorsement from JK Rowling above

The story, in brief:

On October 7, 1992, seven-year-old Nikki Allan was brutally murdered, her body left in a semi-derelict building. The child had been lured from nearby her home by a tall, white, clean-shaven man in his 20s whom she obviously knew. Her last moments alive were captured on CCTV – poor quality, grainy footage showing a little girl skipping behind a man who appears to be striding purposefully ahead.

But her killer got away with it – until he was finally convicted almost 31 years later.

Nikki was with her mother visiting her grandfather’s flat, two floors above theirs but asked if she could go back home when the vacuum cleaner was turned on because she was scared of the noise it made. Sharon watched her daughter walk across the veranda and down the stairs, until she disappeared from sight.

But the child was diverted before reaching her flat, lured away by the man seen on the CCTV. Nikki was taken on a three-minute walk to a patch of waste ground outside a semi derelict warehouse. The man did something to make Nikki scream, and hit her in the face at least once, causing her to bleed. A witness heard a loud, piercing noise that she thought might be a cat.

Nikki Allan

The murder was brutal. Nikki was pushed into the building through a 6-foot-high window. Her killer went in after her, then stalked and captured her. He brought a brick down on her head twice, shattering her skull, then stabbed her 37 times through the abdomen, heart and lungs.

Nikki’s lifeless body was discovered in the basement of the Old Exchange Building after locals searching the area found her coat and shoes on the wasteland. She had been dragged by the ankles into the basement of the building where she was dumped, propped against the wall.

The atrocity of her murder was followed by another terrible thing: police focused on the wrong man as their prime suspect. George Heron was a slightly off-beat character who was desperately shy and seemed to prefer the company of children to adults.

But police coerced a confession from Heron, and, in 1993 at Leeds Crown Court, was acquitted. Boyd remained at large, targeting other children, until finally being charged with the murder in May 2022.

David Boyd, 2022

These are but two of the girls abused by Boyd following the murder - the terrible crime Boyd got away with. There are many more victims. Listen to episode 5 of Three Doors Down, and hear Sam and Vanessa speak for the first time about their dreadful experiences.

https://www.tortoisemedia.com/audio/three-doors-down/

Sam’s story

“He walked over, he grabbed hold of me [and my friend] and he asked us what we were doing. Instantly, I went in a panic mode and I said we were waiting for a friend and his dog thinking if I said a dog, it might, it might scare him a little bit.”

“He looked at me, then he looked at [my friend] and he said to us, ‘don't scream’. So instantly I just started screaming my head off.”

Boyd then grabbed Sam.

“My heart just went in my mouth. I was overcome with so many emotions. I was so scared and. I don't know where or how I found the energy to scream like I did.

I didn't think anything was was gonna come out, but I just screamed at the top of the top of my voice. And then he grabbed [my friend] and he touched her down there before he then ended up running away.

I ran off screaming. I ran home, and my dad came running out. We told him what had happened, and straight away told my mam to get on the phone to the police.”

Vanessa

Vanessa was 12-years-old when, in 1998 she was sexually assaulted by David Boyd, close to his home in Stockton, County Durham.

It was a sunny day in July 1998, a few days before the schools broke up for the summer holidays. Vanessa walked to the corner shop after school with her friends. The shop was very busy with school children, and Vanessa to the freezer towards the back of the shop, down three of four steps, to get some ice pops.

It was then she saw a tall man standing close to her.

“I felt him before I saw him. His leg was pushed against my back, and I was bending over slightly to get the ice pops out. I thought it might be because the place was tiny and really packed and that he had tripped on those steps or something, but then I felt his hand grab my bottom, hard, sort of like pinching it.

I froze really. I just stood there in shock. He was still grabbing me, and his hand just stayed there. I could hear kids laughing around me, and I felt my face burning because I thought they might be laughing me if they'd seen what he was doing to me. I somehow felt like it was my fault. I don't know how long I stood there for, but at some stage he moved and got hold of me round my waist.

He pushed himself against me, and I wondered at that time what would happen if he pulled down my skirt because that’s what it felt like he was doing.”

And then all of a sudden, he left - really quickly.”