Stockton man guilty of murdering Nikki Allan in Sunderland, in 1992
The 7 year old was brutally beaten and stabbed to death in Sunderland.
Last updated 12th May 2023
A Stockton man has been found guilty of murdering a 7-year-old girl in 1992.
55-year-old David Boyd was 25 at the time of Nikki Allan's death in Sunderland.
He lived on the same estate and led the schoolgirl to a derelict building where he brutally beat her with a brick and stabbed her 37 times.
On October the 8th 1992 the city of Sunderland was left in shock after the brutal murder.
Today, 31 years later, her family finally have justice.
Reporter Micky Welch takes you through the timeline of events using achived and present day interviews. Listen to 'Justice, finally, for Nikki Allan' on Spotify here and Soundcloud below:
Nikki Allan was last seen on the council estate where she lived in the Hendon area on the 7th of October 1992.
Her mam Sharon Henderson said they were coming back from Nikki's grandparents flat when she let the little one run ahead to go home and watch TV.
Within the space of a couple of minutes Nikki had vanished.
Sharon was 25 years old at the time and lived in the now demolished Wear Garth Flats with Nikki and her 3 sisters.
Shortly after Nikki's murder a man confessed and was tried but was acquitted after it was heard that his confession was made under oppressive conditions.
At the trial in 1993 the judge criticised the police for their behaviour and handling on evidence.
Many, many years passed, Northumbria Police always maintained the case was open and throughout the years did various appeals for information.
Then a series of arrests and breakthroughs came.
In 2014 convicted child serial killer, Stephen Grievsen, was questioned over her murder but no further action was taken.
Two years later we had a report that a woman came forward with new information.
At the time of the murder, she was a 12 year old babysitter, she'd recognised a sketch of a man from a recent appeal for information.
Then in 2017 new DNA evidence was found and Northumbria Police appealed for people to give samples.
Over the next few says more appeals were made and we were given a statement from Nikki's dad, who'd never spoken publicly about what happened.
Over the next two years a man was arrested for Nikki's murder, then bailed, then re-arrested - he wasn't charged.
Then in 2020 Sharon Henderson invited our reporter Micky Welch into her home to talk about the investigation and about the almost 30 years of searching for justice.
You can find out more about his documentary 'Life After Death' here.
In May 2022 a 54-year-old man that lived in Stockton was charged with her murder.
He was the man who police had originally arrested in 2018.
The trial of David Boyd, also known as Bell or Smith, began on April the 20th 2023.
It was harrowing.
The jury at Newcastle Crown court were shown various bits of evidence including CCTV of a man walking with Nikki Allan on the night she died - that man was Boyd.
They heard how Boyd, now 55, told police DNA found on Nikki's clothing probably came from him spitting over a veranda and her playing below.
Experts gave evidence including a Home Office pathologist who worked on the case in 1992.
They said Nikki's cause of death was shock and haemorrhaging due to multiple blows to the head together with the 37 stab wounds which caused injuries to her heart, lungs and liver.
It emerged that Boyd had admitted to having sexual fantasises about naked "young girls" and how he had a previous conviction for indecent assault on a nine-year-old girl in Stockton in 1999.
The trial lasted almost 4 weeks, but the jury were quick to come to a decision, deliberating for around an hour and a half.
Today, 12th May 2023, David Boyd was found guilty of murdering 7 year old Nikki Allan in 1992, he'll be sentenced on the 23rd of May.
We'll update this with Boyd's sentence when that is handed down.