Nikki Allan was murdered on 7 October 1992
By Victoria Derbyshire
BBC Newsnight
The mother of a girl murdered in 1992 says she is taking legal action against a police force over her 30-year wait for justice.
Nikki Allan, seven, was lured to a derelict building in Sunderland where she was repeatedly beaten and stabbed.
Her ex-neighbour David Boyd was jailed for her murder in May. Nikki’s mum Sharon Henderson said Northumbria Police should have caught him sooner.
The force told the BBC it would not comment over any legal action.
In an exclusive interview with BBC Newsnight, Ms Henderson said her lawyers were writing to the chief constable of Northumbria Police announcing their intent to pursue legal action.
Sharon Henderson started her own investigation into her daughter’s death
She has also invited the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner to conduct an inquiry.
Ms Henderson said she believed the near 30-year delay in arresting Boyd, who was also Nikki’s babysitter’s boyfriend, stemmed from an inadequate police investigation into the case.
The story of Sharon Henderson and her hunt for her daughter’s killer.
“I was treated really badly by the police,” Ms Henderson said, adding: “Because I was the one parent, I didn’t have any support and I was drinking heavily.
“I was living in a council flat and I didn’t have any money.”
Image source, Northumbria Police
David Boyd was jailed for life with a minimum term of 29 years
Nikki and her family lived in the Wear Garth flats in Hendon, east Sunderland, two floors below Boyd, who was 25 years old at the time.
She disappeared on the night of 7 October with her battered and blood-stained body found in the basement of the nearby derelict Old Exchange building the following morning.
She had been stabbed dozens of times and smashed on the head with a brick.
Local man George Heron fell under police scrutiny, confessing to the crime after three days of questioning.
But that confession was ruled inadmissible in court due to harsh interrogation tactics and Mr Heron was acquitted of Nikki’s murder, granted a new identity, and relocated from Sunderland.
Image source, Crown Prosecution Service
Nikki Allan was killed in the Old Exchange building in the Hendon area of Sunderland
Boyd was spoken to by police as a witness but never treated as a suspect at the time.
A DNA profile matching his was found on Nikki’s clothes in 2017 when a new team of detectives reopened the case.
Ms Henderson had carried out her own investigations over the years and said she could not understand why the police did not question him at the time, adding she “begged” the force to reopen Nikki’s case sooner.
“For years I asked about this person, and the police said he didn’t exist,” she said.
She said years of fighting for justice had left a heavy toll, adding: “I am grappling with post-traumatic stress disorder, I have been in and out of hospitals.”
Ms Henderson said one source of her torment was the repeated dismissal of her pleas by the police.
Sharon Henderson said years of fighting for justice had left a heavy toll on her
She said she had been haunted by relentless nightmares, adding: “I kept saying to Nikki that I will not let you down, because I’ve let you down once and I have to live without you.
“If I go to the shop and I see a boy or a little girl by themselves I call the shop owner, I worry sick.”
Ms Henderson said after Nikki was found dead, sections of the media blamed her for not being a good mother.
‘False rumours’
“It was really bad at the beginning,” she said.
“But I ignored rumours, which is hard when you live in a community and it’s around you.”
Ms Henderson claimed one of the false rumours was spread to the media by local police members, suggesting that she was out at a pub the day Nikki Allan disappeared.
She said she had not been contacted by the police and only heard the force had apologised via the media.
Northumbria Police told the BBC it had “made repeated attempts to try and speak to Nikki’s mum Sharon prior to the media coverage but were unfortunately unable to contact her”.
A spokesperson added: “We did speak to Sharon the following day and have further offered the opportunity for her to meet with Assistant Chief Constable Alastair Simpson – and this offer remains open.”
However, Ms Henderson said she would not accept any apology, but wanted to “make sure that this doesn’t happen to other families”.
Ms Henderson, who has made a memorial to Nikki in her garden, said she had “only just begun to grieve” for her daughter, adding: “I’m just trying to do the best to get the best justice outcome for Nikki.”
‘Never gave up’
Harriet Wistrich of the Centre for Women’s Justice, which is legally representing Ms Henderson, said: “Sharon and her daughters have suffered immense pain and damage as a consequence of historic police failures.
“She never gave up on her attempts to secure justice for Nikki.
“Now the murderer has been convicted, she wants answers and a full inquiry into the historic failures by Northumbria Police.”
The BBC contacted the Northumbria Police for its reaction to Ms Henderson’s legal action.
It said “it would not be appropriate for us to comment in relation to any intention to bring legal action against the force”.
Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Kim McGuinness said she could “only imagine the impact the wait for justice has had” on Nikki’s family and would make plans to meet them “in the coming days”.
