Girl, 7, stabbed 37 times in abandoned warehouse 'skipped to her death'
The DNA of the man accused of the murder a schoolgirl more than 30 years ago was found 'in multiple areas' on her clothing, a court heard today.
Seven-year-old Nikki Allan was found dead in a derelict building near her home in Sunderland in October 1992. She had been beaten and stabbed multiple times after going missing.
A jury heard today that David Thomas Boyd, 55, who had been living in the same block of flats, lured her to her death in a nearby building - then lied about his movements to police.
Newcastle Crown Court was told that he had an 'intimate knowledge' of the warehouse where Nikki's body was found hours after she went missing, and knew how to get into it.
He was, 'by his own admission', the last man to see her alive, and matched the description of a man who was spotted by a passer by with a young girl 'skipping behind him', the jury heard.
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Richard Wright KC, prosecuting, said the schoolgirl was 'skipping to her death'.
David Boyd, who is on trial accused of murderHe told the jury: "Over thirty years ago, on the night of the Oct 7, 1992, a little girl called Nikki Allan was lured away from the block of flats in which she lived and down towards the River Wear in Sunderland.
"The man who led her away took her into an area of wasteland behind a disused building. There he struck her at least one blow that caused her to bleed.
"He then forced her through an opening in a boarded up window into the derelict building. It was the only point of access to that building and this man plainly knew that building well and knew exactly where and how to get into it.
"Inside the building the man who took her there beat Nikki Allan about the head with a brick. He shattered her skull. He then used a knife to stab her repeatedly through her chest, the knife being driven in and out of her body many times through the same hole. Into her heart, into her lungs, making sure of the job of killing her.
Sharon Henderson, mother of Nikki Allen, enters Newcastle Crown Court (Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)"He lifted and dragged her downstairs into the blackness of the basement, and no doubt knowing his way around, navigated the series of rooms, dragging her with him, and dumping her body in the corner of an end room.
"He must have hoped she would remain undetected, but in fact she would be found the next morning by two of the many local residents who were desperately searching for her."
He told how, in 1993, a trial took place in the Crown Court at Leeds, and George Heron was accused of her murder.
"The jury found him not guilty of murder. They were right to do so. George Heron was not the killer of Nikki Allan. The killer of Nikki Allan was David Boyd, the man sitting in the dock at the back of this court," added Mr Wright.
Nikki's body was found in a derelict building near her home (PA)
Nikki suffered a shattered skull and stab wounds (PA)The court heard Boyd was known in 1992 as David Smith or David Bell. He was 25 years old. "He lived close to Nikki in the same block of flats at Wear Garth in Sunderland," added Mr Wright KC.
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"He knew the building in which she was murdered very well and how to get into it. He constructed a false alibi in 1992, when he benefitted from the attention of the police wrongly focused on an innocent man, he even provided a statement for use in the original trial.
"He was, by his own admission, the last man to see her alive that night having her in his sight until the moments before she was lured away.
"He was by his own admission out of his flat alone at the time that she went missing. He closely resembles the description of the man who killed Nikki.
David Boyd is standing trial at Newcastle Crown Court (NCJ Media)"Modern scientific testing has revealed his DNA on her clothing in multiple areas. The case against David Boyd is a circumstantial one but it is, we will invite you to conclude, a compelling one, a case that will enable you to come to the sure and safe conclusion that he is guilty of her murder."
Mr Wright KC suggested that Nikki's death may have been brought about by her 'ability to identify' her killer.
He said: "Where then does David Boyd fit into those common sense inferences that you can draw from the evidence?
"Firstly, he lived in Wear Garth on the same floor as Nikki’s grandparents. He was well known to Nikki’s family and to Nikki. His girlfriend at the time was a regular babysitter for Nikki Allan.
Sharon has waited 30 years for justice (Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)"Secondly, David Boyd knew the local area very well and more significantly he knew the Old Exchange Building.
"He was a regular visitor to that building and knew how to access it, using the same window that the killer used when he took a 12 year old boy there in the dark just a few days before the murder to look for pigeons.
"David Boyd knew the layout very well and was still able to describe it when interviewed nearly thirty years later.
"Third, David Boyd was 25 as of the 7th October 1992. He was of the same age and description of the killer.
"He bore a striking resemblance to the killer.
Sharon in 1995 holds up a picture of her daughter (Mirrorpix)"Fourth, David Boyd told the police that he saw Nikki at around the time that she was lured away to her death. By his own account he was the last man to describe seeing her alive.
"Fifth, we will invite you to conclude that he quite deliberately lied about where he was at 10 p.m. that night.
"We suggest that this was a deliberate lie to alibi himself for the time of the killing, a time that only the killer could have appreciated was significant when David Boyd gave his account to the police in 1992.
"Sixth, a DNA profile matching that of David Boyd has been detected at multiple locations on the clothing of Nikki Allan.
"Locations that are all consistent with the areas that her killer would have come into contact with.
Floral tributes to Nikki Allan outside the Old Exchange Building, Sunderland, where her body was found in 1992 (Mirrorpix)"We will invite you to conclude that he has provided no sensible explanation for those findings that withstands common sense scrutiny."
The jury heard that, in contrast to the prosecution of George Heron, the recent re-investigation of the case had looked at 'all identifiable potential suspects without making any assumptions'.
Mr Wright KC added: "That process identified just one man who knew this child, knew the murder scene intimately, saw her just before she was lured away, lied about where he was at the time of the killing, who matches the description of the killer, and whose DNA profile matches a DNA profile found at multiple sites on her clothing.
"Only the killer knows why he did what he did to Nikki.
"Whatever his motivation may have been, you may conclude that this person did not lure a seven year old girl away to a derelict building at night for a benign reason.
"It may well be – and the evidence certainly supports this interpretation of events - that something occurred in the grounds of that derelict building that caused Nikki Allan to scream and for the killer to assault her.
"One distinct possibility is that her brutal death was not what had been intended at the outset but was instead brought about by her ability to identify the person who had taken her there and had hurt her outside the building."
Nikki's mum Sharon Henderson, 56, was given a hug by her family and friends as she arrived this morning to hear the evidence in the case. She broke down in tears yesterday as she listened to the circumstances of Nikki's death read to potential jurors.
She was in the public gallery before the case opened but left shortly before Mr Wright began his opening speech to the jury today.
Boyd, who also known as David Smith and David Bell, his arms and neck heavily tattooed, listened to the evidence via headphones.
The trial, due to last six weeks, continues.
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