David Boyd (Jail 27 years , 4 months , 23 days left)

David Boyd was convicted of the murder of 7-year-old Nikki Allan.

He murdered her in on 7 October 1992 in the Old Exchange Building which was disused.

He was not considered a suspect until 2022 when a DNA review of all the men connected to Nikki Allan. 829 of them, found that his DNA was on her clothes. He said that it must have got there when he spat over a balcony at the flats.

Nikki Allan had been beaten to death with a blunt instrument and stabbed 37 times. Her post-mortem stated that she had died from multiple head injuries and a fractured skull.

Her body was described as blood splattered. The police said that there was no evidence of sexual interference.

Her shoes and coat had been removed and were found near the building minutes before searchers found her body.

Following the discovery of her body in Quayside Exchange, which was close to Fish Quay, on 8 October 1992 at about 10.40am, the police said that they began a search for the blunt murder weapon.

Quayside Exchange was described as a burnt-out building on High Street West and as being within sight of Wear Garth Flats where Nikki Allan had lived.

During the early stages of the investigation the police asked parents to be careful as it could happen again and said that they had not ruled out a connection between her murder and the 'red car' series of attempted abductions across the north-east.

David Boyd was noted at the time to have been the last person to have seen Nikki Allan alive. He had lived in the same block of flats and had his partner had baby-sat for Nikki Allan's family.

Shortly after her murder a man confessed and was tried but was acquitted after it was heard that his confession was made under oppressive conditions. At the trial the judge had refused to allow the jury to hear the tape recordings of the man's confession, stating that they were inadmissible and he then criticised the police for ‘oppressive questioning’ and for misrepresenting evidence.

The man was later successfully sued in a civil court for battery of a child, Nikki Allan, resulting in her death.

In 2014 a convicted child killer was questioned over her murder but no further action was taken.

In 2016 it was reported that a girl that had been 12-years-old at the time and baby-sitting came forward with new information about the murder after seeing the sketch of a man on the television detailing a man that the police were looking for.

In 2017 new DNA evidence was found which was thought could help identify her murderer and in April 2018 a man was arrested in relation to her murder. The man was re-arrested for her murder on 3 May 2019 but nothing more is known.

The man that was arrested in April 2018 had lived in Middleton Walk, near Stockton town centre and witnesses said that they saw forensic officers in white suits coming and going for about eight hours, bringing out numerous plastic bags filled with items.

In August 2020 it was reported that Nikki Allan's mother was to meet with new witnesses.

In May 2022 David Boyd, who lived in  lived in Chesterton Court, Norton, County Durham was charged with her murder. He was not any of the other men previously announced as being arrested.

During his trial the police showned CCTV of a man with Nikki Allan as well as artists impressions of the man drawn at the time which were said to have born a strong reseemblance to him at the time.

The court heard that David Boyd had been convicted of indecently assaulting a nine-year-old girl in 1999 at which time he had admitted to having sexual fantasies about young girls. He also had a conviction for indecent exposure in 1997 when he flashed three young girls in a park as well as one for breaching the peace in 1986 when he grabbed a 10-year-old girl and asked her for a kiss.

Nikki Allan was last seen on the council estate where she lived, Wear Garth. Her mother said that they were coming back from Nikki Allan's grandparents flat which was two story’s above theirs, saying that she sent her ahead so that she could watch television. She said that a minute later she looked over the balcony into the quadrangle below and saw Nikki Allan there. However, she said that by the time she got there Nikki Allan had vanished

She said that she spent the next two hours searching for her and then called the police.

Nikki Allan had lived in Wear Garth flats with her 25-year-old mother and her three sisters aged eight, four and two.

She had gone to St John's and St Patrick's Primary on Church Street East.

Wear Garth flats where Nikki Allan had lived were later demolished.