Little Girl Murdered in Sunderland 1992

[Fleetwood Mac]

I don't think this one has been mentioned on here.

In Sunderland, near my home town, a little girl was murdered in 1992.

With extreme brutality. She was stabbed 37 times and a brick was smashed over her head in a derelict building, and her shoes were left outside of the building for someone to find. A truly despicable crime.

The killer has not served justice to date.

At the time, the local loner was accused and he admitted his 'guilt' but only after the police led him down a path into confessing. Subsequently, the case was thrown out of court due to police procedure/actions being deemed to be suggestive to say the least. From the tapes, it is clear this man didn't have a clue how she had been killed, although his sister testified that he washed his clothes in the early hours of the morning, which was unusual for him, and he had claimed to have not known the little girl - in actual fact he had known her. He had to leave the area, no one knows where he is, and his solicitor had his premises firebombed by friends of the family.

Around the same time, a serial killer murdered 4 young lads, also in disused/derelict buildings in the same area. He was arrested for the murder of the girl last year on the back of a new lead, but was released with a statement that 'he faced no immediate further questioning'.

We don't really get serial killers 'round here, so for one to be doing the rounds is highly unusual; two lunatics doing the rounds is pretty much unheard of.

Unfortunately, it looks like a cowardly psychopath will escape the law this time.

Not many will have heard of this case because with it being a working class family it hasn't been in the public eye, but for anyone who cares to read it is interesting though horrific.

[Geddy2112]

I remember it well as I lived a few miles away, I presume you mean Nikki Allen?
Lots of rumour at the time and 'we' were always led to believe the 'locals' got a bit too involved shall we say.
A few years later there was the other horrible murder of Laura Kane from Penshaw, I can remember driving home from the football, it was a horrible horrible night and Sunderland beat Newcastle 2-1. I went to drop my friend off in Penshaw and the place was riddled with police, luckily the culprit is rotting in jail for this.
On a slightly different note way back in the 80s an elderly woman was murdered in Houghton, around the corner from my house at the time and my friend and I 'sort of' discovered the body delivering newspapers, as a 15 year old it was rather a traumatic event. Sorry I went off on one there....

[louisa]

FM - That's appalling.

It's a pity the police are so useless. That cowardly psychopath will continue until he gets caught.

It's also appalling that just because the victim was from a working class family that the case got put on the back burner.

[louisa]

On a slightly different note way back in the 80s an elderly woman was murdered in Houghton, around the corner from my house at the time and my friend and I 'sort of' discovered the body delivering newspapers, as a 15 year old it was rather a traumatic event. Sorry I went off on one there....

Yes, that would be the kind of thing that would stay in your memory forever.

Did they manage to catch the perpetrator?

[Fleetwood Mac]

FM - That's appalling.

It's a pity the police are so useless. That cowardly psychopath will continue until he gets caught.

It's also appalling that just because the victim was from a working class family that the case got put on the back burner.

Hello Louisa,

To be fair to the police they didn't have any leads.

And, certain sections of the public didn't help.

This particular building in the Hendon area of Sunderland was widely used by drug addicts and prostitutes. The general consensus is that someone would have seen or heard this murder taking place, but that someone or some people didn't come forward.

That said, clearly the police have no justification for putting all of their eggs in the basket of the local loner who also had learning difficulties. The tapes demonstrate that he didn't have know anything about how the little girl died.

I think it's likely that the lunatic who murdered the four young lads also killed this little girl. There are similarities in terms of location and MO.

[Fleetwood Mac]

I remember it well as I lived a few miles away, I presume you mean Nikki Allen?
Lots of rumour at the time and 'we' were always led to believe the 'locals' got a bit too involved shall we say.
A few years later there was the other horrible murder of Laura Kane from Penshaw, I can remember driving home from the football, it was a horrible horrible night and Sunderland beat Newcastle 2-1. I went to drop my friend off in Penshaw and the place was riddled with police, luckily the culprit is rotting in jail for this.
On a slightly different note way back in the 80s an elderly woman was murdered in Houghton, around the corner from my house at the time and my friend and I 'sort of' discovered the body delivering newspapers, as a 15 year old it was rather a traumatic event. Sorry I went off on one there....

Hello Geddy,

Yes, Nikki Allen.

As you know, Hendon isn't a place where 'the locals' are shy when it comes to taking the law into their own hands, and I have no doubt that in the event this man was ever identified he would be dead within a month, whether currently incarcerated or otherwise.

[louisa]

.

I think it's likely that the lunatic who murdered the four young lads also killed this little girl. There are similarities in terms of location and MO.

I wouldn't mind reading about this case if you have a link.

Those poor children, their parents must have been devastated. It must make it so much worse knowing the perpetrator has never been caught.


RIP to the children of these horrible crimes.

[Geddy2112]

Yes, that would be the kind of thing that would stay in your memory forever.

Did they manage to catch the perpetrator?

They did yes, it was a 22 year old man with learning difficulties and a 11 year old boy.

Both convictions got quashed. - https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/dec/11/claredyer

[louisa]

So they were guilty of the crime but got off on technicalities?

They should have been put away for a good few years for mental rehabilitation or assessment, if only to safeguard the public.

[Fleetwood Mac]

I wouldn't mind reading about this case if you have a link.

Those poor children, their parents must have been devastated. It must make it so much worse knowing the perpetrator has never been caught.


RIP to the children of these horrible crimes.

Hi Louisa,

The man who killed the four young lads is serving time for their murders. This man was abused as a child, terrible Father, in and out of Young Offender's Institutes and care that sort of thing. He is remembered by people who I know living in Sunderland and as you'd expect wasn't a nice kid. Glue sniffer, bully, that sort of thing; then again didn't have a nice childhood.

He was locked up in 1992 at the time of the murders, and he was arrested last year while in jail on suspicion of murdering the little girl. My guess is it was him. The person who murdered that little girl was full of extreme rage, no similar type of murder was committed again, and the murder of the little girl bore similarities to the murder of the four young lads.

You won't find much about this case on the internet or anywhere else - as I say, working class children going missing or being murdered isn't as newsworthy as middle class children, e.g. the McCann girl.

Here's a link from Crime Watch - think it was last year this was taken.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUYuakXQq0Q

[louisa]

Thanks for that link FM but I was unable to watch it all. I only got halfway on it - too much for me. That poor little girl. I couldn't bear to see her mother's tears.



As you say, if she had been the child of well-off people then it would have been big news.

[Fleetwood Mac]

Thanks for that link FM but I was unable to watch it all. I only got halfway on it - too much for me. That poor little girl. I couldn't bear to see her mother's tears.



As you say, if she had been the child of well-off people then it would have been big news.

At this juncture there is little chance that justice will be served.

The odd person comes forward now and again with supposedly new information, but given that this was more than 20 years back witness testimony is of limited value unless someone comes forward who actually witnessed the murder, and it really isn't in that person's interests to do so as that person would be in serious danger due to witholding information.

Similarly, the man currently locked up for murdering the four lads will not confess to the murder of the little girl because what life he has in jail would be extinguished within a short space of time.

[louisa]

At this juncture there is little chance that justice will be served.

The odd person comes forward now and again with supposedly new information, but given that this was more than 20 years back witness testimony is of limited value unless someone comes forward who actually witnessed the murder, and it really isn't in that person's interests to do so as that person would be in serious danger due to witholding information.

Similarly, the man currently locked up for murdering the four lads will not confess to the murder of the little girl because what life he has in jail would be extinguished within a short space of time.

As I didn't get to the end I didn't find out if DNA was recovered.

I think the man who is locked up must be the killer because a sadistic paedophile will go on doing these things until he gets caught (or he dies first). The fact that no other girl has died in the same way since he's been incarcerated points to the fact that he most likely was Nikki's murderer.

I'm not sure if a plea bargain would work in a case like this. If he agreed to confess to Nikki's murder (and describes it accurately in detail to the police) then they could agree to knock a few years off his sentence (not that he deserves that. This man should never be released)

What did you say his sentence was?

[Fleetwood Mac]

As I didn't get to the end I didn't find out if DNA was recovered.

I think the man who is locked up must be the killer because a sadistic paedophile will go on doing these things until he gets caught (or he dies first). The fact that no other girl has died in the same way since he's been incarcerated points to the fact that he most likely was Nikki's murderer.

I'm not sure if a plea bargain would work in a case like this. If he agreed to confess to Nikki's murder (and describes it accurately in detail to the police) then they could agree to knock a few years off his sentence (not that he deserves that. This man should never be released)

What did you say his sentence was?

Around 35 years. He has served 24 of them.

[louisa]

Around 35 years. He has served 24 of them.

Well that was a good long sentence. With a bit of luck he'll die in jail, but let's hope he will confess to the murder of little Nikki before that. Her family deserve it.

When I was looking at Nikki's mother's tears, I couldn't help but compare her genuine grief to that of JonBenet's mother, who, in interviews, looks almost like she's enjoying being on TV. I know they say that everybody grieves in different ways....but do they? I would be in pieces if my beloved child had died at the hand of a stranger in her own home, and in such a vile way.