Nikki Allan's killer 'shaking constantly' during interview and asked police alarming question

Child killer David Boyd faces a life sentence behind bars for the murder of Sunderland schoolgirl Nikki Allan and now police have spoken of the chilling question he asked officers when he was arrested.

Nikki vanished from near her home at Sunderland's Wear Garth flats on October 7, 1992, and her body was tragically found in the derelict Old Exchange building the following morning. The seven-year-old had been stabbed multiple times and smashed over the head with a brick.

Her mother Sharon Henderson waited more than 30 years for justice until advances in DNA led to the killer's profile being found on Nikki’s clothes. Boyd, who had lived in the same block of flats in Sunderland as Nikki and her mum, has now been convicted of murder following a trial at Newcastle Crown Court and will be sentenced on May 23.

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Detective Chief Superintendent Lisa Theaker has now spoken about the moment Boyd was arrested at this Stockton home in 2018 on suspicion of Nikki's murder.

"He said something significant on arrest," she said.

Nikki Allan was murdered by David Boyd in 1992. (PA)

"He asked, 'What evidence have you got?' Which isn't necessarily a natural question that you would ask if you were locked up for a child murder."

She continued: "Then in interview as well, he was shaking constantly. Observing the interviews, it looked like he was kind of concerned but he was not going to admit the offence.

"He was not going to admit what he had done. We saw that in the trial."

Boyd did not give evidence during his trial and Detective Superintendent Theaker said the family and jurors were forced to listen to horrific details of the case.

She continued: "He has put the family through the most horrific detail of the investigation that they had to listen to, and not just that, but the jury as well. I think it has been really traumatic for them."

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