Nikki Allan, 7, ‘skipped to her death’ before babysitter’s lover David Boyd ‘knifed her & shattered skull in ’92 murder’
A SCHOOLGIRL was seen "skipping to her death" before her skull was shattered and she was repeatedly stabbed in the heart, a court heard.
Nikki Allan, seven, was allegedly lured from her home in Sunderland by David Boyd, who forced her into a derelict building on October 7, 1992.
Once inside, the 55-year-old, whose partner was Nikki's babysitter, bludgeoned the youngster with a brick and stabbed her 37 times in the heart, jurors heard.
Boyd then allegedly dragged Nikki downstairs "into the blackness of the basement" by her legs before dumping her tiny body in a darkened corner where she was discovered the following day.
The schoolgirl's killing led to a 30-year mystery that saw innocent man George Heron stand trial for murder.
But thanks to advances in science, police found Boyd's DNA on Nikki's clothing in multiple areas, it was said.
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When arrested, he said to officers: “I haven’t got any involvement in it,” but then asked: “What evidence have you got anyway?”
Newcastle Crown Court heard how a final sighting of Nikki showed her "unwittingly skipping to her death" with a man.
Richard Wright KC, prosecuting, said the evidence suggests she was "not abducted" but instead "lured away by her killer".
He also told the court Boyd was the last man to see her alive on the night she died.
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At around 10pm, a woman, whose flat overlooked the Exchange Building where Nikki's body was found, heard a "short lived but piercing scream from a girl".
A second witness, who worked with Nikki's mum at the local fish factory, heard a sound she at first believed was a "cat wailing" or the wind, it was said.
Around this time, it became clear Nikki was missing and a search was launched for the youngster.
Her body was tragically discovered the next day after a couple noticed her purple coat and red shoe in the grounds of the derelict building.
Jurors were shown harrowing footage of a blood-stained brick used to attack her and drag marks on the floor where she was dragged to the basement.
Her family wept as a child mannequin was brought into the court wearing identical clothing to Nikki when she was killed.
Opening the case today, Mr Wright said: "Over thirty years ago, on the night of the 7th October 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.
"Nikki Allan was seven years old."
The court was told "only the killer knows why he did what he did to Nikki" but it could be "something occurred in the grounds of that derelict building that caused her to scream and for the killer to assault her".
Mr Wright added: "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."
Jurors heard that Boyd, who was previously called David Smith or David Bell, was "well known to Nikki's family" at the time and that his girlfriend was her regular babysitter.
He was 25 years old and lived in the same block of flats as Nikki and knew the building where she was killed "very well", it was said.
A few days before the murder, he took a 12-year-old boy there to look at pigeons, using the same window used by the killer.
Jurors heard he took advantage in 1992 of police focusing on the wrong man to craft a false alibi - and even provided a statement at Mr Heron's trial.
But after a fresh team took over the investigation in 2017, a "massive DNA screening exercise" was carried out.
DNA found on Nikki's cycling shorts and T-shirt was a one-in-28,000 match to Boyd, the court was told.
When asked by police to explain the findings, he claimed he had spat over his balcony while Nikki was playing below and it "must have soaked through her clothing and onto her skin".
Mr Wright said: "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."
Boyd, of Chesterton Court, Norton, denies murder.
The trial continues.
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