Serial child killer Robert Black DID murder missing schoolgirl Genette Tate 38 years ago, cops tell family
The team of police looking into the case revealed previously unpublished evidence - including that Black had admitted visiting the village where the youngster disappeared
ROBERT Black killed vanished newspaper girl Genette Tate 38 year ago, police have said.
Detectives are now certain Black murdered the schoolgirl, and were weeks from charging him when he died in jail in January.
The father of vanished Genette says police outlined the case to him, and revealed previously unpublished evidence.
Serial child-killer Black had admitted visiting the village where the 13-year-old disappeared in 1978.
Her bike was left on a country lane in Aylesbeare, Devon, with newspapers scattered around - her body has never been found.
Delivery driver Black became the main suspect for her death after being convicted in 1994 for the rape and murder of three girls in the early 1980s.
Black, 68, was serving 12 life sentences for the kidnap and murder of four girls in the 1980s.
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But he had been linked to as many as 17 other killings in the UK and on the continent.
Genette's father, John, told the : "I'm now convinced Robert Black was the culprit. I feel very emotional.
"I'd like to find her body after 38 years searching for answers, but what do I do now? I've spent all these years looking and still don't have any definitive answer.
"I'm lost now - this has dominated my life. I end up crying about it."
Police had prepared a case to present to the Crown Prosecution Service in April of this year, convinced Black was the killer, but were told Black was dead and the case could not be pursued.
The 500-page report detailed Black once revealed to a prison guard he had visited Aylesbeare, even correcting the guard when he misheard him to confirm it was definitely Aylesbeare.
It included criteria associated with Black's crimes, some of which were young girls, riding bikes, white ankle socks.
The former delivery driver was found guilty in 1994 of killing Susan Maxwell, 11, of the Scottish Borders, in 1982, Caroline Hogg, five, of Edinburgh, in 1983 and ten-year-old Sarah Harper, of Morley, near Leeds, in 1986.
And in 2011, he was convicted of murdering nine-year-old Jennifer Cardy, who was snatched as she cycled to a friend’s house in Ballinderry, County Antrim, in 1981.
The police met with the Tate family to inform them of the development and have made no further comment.
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