Nikki Allan: Mum of murdered girl rejects 'hollow' police apology

Nikki's mother Sharon Henderson said she had not had an apology in person

The mother of a murdered seven-year-old girl has rejected a "hollow" police apology for the 31-year wait to convict the killer.

Nikki Allan was beaten and stabbed to death in Sunderland in 1992 by David Boyd, who was found guilty on Friday.

Northumbria Police apologised to her mother Sharon Henderson, 56, for failings in the original investigation.

Ms Henderson said she did not accept the apology, adding she heard about it from the media rather than the police.

• A mother's 30-year hunt for her daughter's killer

She said she had "asked the question over and over again" about Boyd, who had lived in the same block of flats as her family, but to no avail.

The murderer, now 55, was only arrested at his home in Stockton in 2018 thanks to advances in DNA technology.

"I was left to investigate Nikki's murder myself for all that time," Ms Henderson said.

"It took 30 years and a DNA scientist to catch up with Boyd, he should have been in [the police's] sights immediately."

The murder of seven-year-old Nikki Allan in 1992 remained unsolved for decades

Shortly after Nikki's death, an artist's sketch of a man seen with a girl believed to be her was circulated, which prosecutors said was the killer.

Boyd's name was given to detectives at the time as a possible match.

Assistant Chief Constable Alastair Simpson has confirmed Boyd was named but said he was one of more than 100 men likened to the drawing.

"All of that initial evidence from 1992, none of that would have led to the prosecution of David Boyd without the forensic breakthrough," he said.

David Boyd was one of more than 100 men identified to police in 1992 from an artist's sketch

Detectives initially accused George Heron, another neighbour in the Wear Garth flats, of the murder but he was found not guilty at a trial in Leeds in 1993.

Mr Heron had made a confession to police but the judge called their tactics "oppressive" and the errors they made led to major changes in the way suspects were interviewed.

On Wednesday, Northumbria Police also apologised to him for the failings which led to him being wrongly prosecuted.

Boyd, who was 25 and the partner of Nikki's babysitter in 1992, was spoken to by police at the time but was seen as a "helpful" neighbour rather than a suspect, his trial at Newcastle Crown Court heard.

He was convicted in large part due to his DNA being found on Nikki's clothes which was only discovered after police reopened their investigation in 2017.

Ms Henderson said the force's "acceptance of all the failings" had been a "long time coming".

David Boyd will be sentenced for murdering Nikki Allan next week

She also claimed she was yet to receive an apology from the force directly and only knew about it after seeing media reports.

Northumbria Police told the BBC the force had made multiple attempts to speak to Ms Henderson but had been unable to contact her until after the press interviews.

The force said she would be offered the opportunity to speak to ACC Simpson.

Ms Henderson said she would "prefer to see action rather than words" and the police should investigate other people she believed were involved in Nikki's murder.

On Wednesday, Det Ch Supt Lisa Theaker, who led the re-investigation, said Northumbria Police was certain Boyd acted alone and officers would be able to share information with Nikki's mother to reassure her that was the case.