Nikki Allan’s mother is asking for life in prison for her daughter’s killer

55-year-old David Boyd, who lives in Norton, Stockton, has for the past several years tricked Nikki Allan into following him to take a seat behind an abandoned commercial building and then sexually assaulted her or attempted to before he killed her to silence her, the sentencing judge at Newcastle Crown Court said.

The sex offender murdered Nikki in the disused Old Exchange Building in Sunderland’s East End in a “brutal” manner that must have inflicted “unimaginable horror” on his victim in the moments leading up to her death, Judge Christina Lambert said.

However, she refrained from introducing a life sentence and reduced the minimum sentence of 37 years she would now have given to at least 29 years behind bars, as the penal system was less severe in the early 1990s.

READ ALSO: Nikki Allan LIVE: David Boyd is convicted of murdering a Sunderland schoolgirl

Nikki’s mother Sharon Henderson, 57, spoke in court after Boyd’s sentencing and called for a public inquiry into the police’s handling of the original case.

She said: “I would have been content with life (for a lifetime).

“This is a seven-year-old child.

“When will anyone take such crimes seriously?

“It happens all the time to families like mine – injustice.”

Ms Henderson was accompanied by her other daughter, Stacey, and Harriet Wistrich, director of the Center for Women’s Justice, who represented her in court during the hearing.

READ ALSO: David Boyd Must Be Convicted Of Nikki Allan’s Murder

She said: “Now Sharon is demanding that Northumbria Police be held accountable for their historic failure that allowed a 31-year wait before the right man was convicted of Nikki’s murder.”

“The full extent of the failings remains unknown and that is why we are calling for a public inquiry to examine the historic investigation that led to the wrong man being prosecuted and police only considering alternative suspects over 20 years later.”

Continue reading:

* Northumbria Police apologize to mother of murdered Nikki Allan

* David Boyd was jailed for the 1992 murder of Sunderland woman Nikki Allan

* David Boyd was found guilty of the murder of Nikki Allan in Sunderland after the trial

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“We are also preparing a complaint to be filed with the Independent Office of Police Complaints and are considering a civil claim for damages on Sharon’s behalf.”

As she left court, Ms Henderson said, “I’m 57 and have fought for justice for more than 30 years.”

“My life and that of my family has not been the same since Nikki was killed.”