Nikki Allan trial accused says girl may have wiped spit on herself

Nikki Allan was killed on 7 October 1992

A girl found with a man's DNA on her clothes may have wiped her accused killer's spit on herself, jurors heard.

Nikki Allan was hit with a brick and repeatedly stabbed in Sunderland's Old Exchange building in October 1992.

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

In police interviews read to Newcastle Crown Court, Mr Boyd said he had been spitting off his third-floor veranda the night Nikki, seven, went missing and it may have landed on her.

The court has heard DNA matching Mr Boyd's was found under the right armpit of Nikki's T-shirt and on the waistband of her leggings, the areas where her killer may have grabbed to lift her into the Old Exchange through a broken boarded-up window.

Mr Boyd, then aged 25 and known as David Smith, was a neighbour of Nikki's family at Wear Garth and detectives said there were inconsistencies in the accounts of his movements that night.

He also knew the Old Exchange and told police that several days before Nikki's killing, he had used the same window to get in as her attacker would.

The court heard Mr Boyd was arrested and interviewed in April 2018 and April 2019.

In the later interviews, he was asked how DNA matching his could have ended up on her clothes.

He said he had seen Nikki playing in the centre of the garth flat-block that night and when she left she walked below his balcony.

He said the "only way" he could explain the DNA was that he had been spitting off his veranda and she must have walked underneath.

The court has heard the DNA was found on her inner clothes but not on her coat.

Nikki Allan was killed and her body abandoned in the Old Exchange building in the east end of Sunderland

When quizzed about that, Mr Boyd told officers he "can't explain it unless she found [the spit] and wiped it on herself", adding: "She could have wiped her hands on it."

Forensic scientist James Chapman previously told jurors he did not find evidence of saliva on Nikki's clothes although that did not mean it had not been there.

He also said saliva does not contain DNA but the lining of the mouth does and cheek cells could be part of a person's spit.

The trial previously heard a girl was seen walking with a man from the flats towards the derelict building shortly before 22:00 on 7 October 1992, with a scream heard moments later.

Her body was found in the building's basement the following morning by people searching for her.

The trial continues.