Nikki Allan trial: Jurors told grainy image shows murder accused with girl

The court heard that a CCTV image shows the defendant walking with Nikki Allan to the scene where she was found dead

An image of a man accused of murder with his seven-year-old victim was captured on CCTV, a court has heard.

Nikki Allan's body was found with 37 stab wounds and other injuries in a derelict building in Sunderland in October 1992.

David Boyd, 55, of Chesterton Court, Stockton-on-Tees, denies murder.

Newcastle Crown Court heard prosecutors believed the grainy image showed Mr Boyd walking with the child to the scene where she was attacked.

The court heard that Mr Boyd, who was 25 at the the time, is accused of hitting Nikki with a brick and stabbing her.

He is alleged to have murdered the schoolgirl in a derelict building near the flats where they lived separately in Hendon, Sunderland.

Witness Margaret Hodgson saw a girl skipping to catch up with a man walking ahead of her in the area on the night of 7 October 1992, jurors were told.

Four days later, Mrs Hodgson helped a police artist to produce a sketch of the man.

Prosecutor Richard Wright KC, when he opened the case last Thursday, said the sketch bore a "striking resemblance" to photos of Mr Boyd taken around the time.

The jury has also heard written evidence from one of Nikki's neighbours Alison Montgomery.

In a statement given to police, she said she had been out with her boyfriend on the night Nikki went missing and saw two young girls on High Street East in Sunderland.

"They looked too young to be out alone at that time of night," her statement said.

She said the girls were standing behind a wall looking towards the Boar's Head public house.

Ms Montgomery's statement said the following day she was watching television when Nikki's photograph appeared on the news.

She said she "immediately" recognised her as the smaller of the two girls she had seen the previous evening.

Earlier the jury heard written evidence from Caroline Branton who was the defendant's partner in October 1992.

She said at the time he was known as David Smith.

She said she occasionally babysat for Nikki Allan and her sisters.

She told the court after Nikki disappeared: "I don't really remember David talking much about - I never saw David on his own with Nikki."

The trial continues.