SERIAL killer Robert Black, who is already serving life sentences for the murders of three girls in the 1980s, was found guilty of the 1981 kidnap and murder of nine-year-old Jennifer Cardy in Northern Ireland.The fourth murder conviction will prompt further investigations into other unsolved child disappearances, police said last night. Prosecutors are now likely to be asked to review evidence linking him to another of Brtiain's most notorious open cases, the suspected murder of 13-year-old Genette Tate in 1978. Miss Tate’s father urged him to “come clean” over whether he was responsible.
A jury at Armagh Crown Court convicted Black, 64, of abducting and murdering Jennifer Cardy as she cycled to a friend’s house in the village of Ballinderry, Co Antrim, on August 12, 1981.
Her body was found six days later in a dam behind a roadside layby 15 miles away at Hillsborough, Co Down. The jury had been made aware that Black, a delivery driver from Scotland, was convicted in 1994 of the murders of 11-year-old Susan Maxwell, from the Scottish Borders, five-year-old Caroline Hogg, from Edinburgh, and Sarah Harper, 10, from Morley, near Leeds. While Black, 64, has now been convicted of four child murders, he is suspected of involvement in many other crimes, notably the 1978 abduction of Devon schoolgirl Genette Tate.
According to "The telegraph" here is the unpalatable detailed outline of all Black's previous crimes which was presented to the court during the Armagh trial.
:: 1982 - Susan Maxwell - Murder
The 11-year-old schoolgirl lived on her family's farm near the village of Cornhill on Tweed on the English side of the Scottish border.
On Friday July 30, a glorious sunny day, she arranged to play tennis with a friend two miles away, just over the border in the town of Coldstream. She got a lift there and had persuaded her mother Liz to let her walk back - the first time she had done so on her own.
Her game finished at 4pm and Susan, wearing a yellow T-shirt and shorts and carrying her racquet and a flask of juice, was seen crossing the bridge back into England over the River Tweed on her way home.
But then she vanished. A huge police search operation failed to find any trace of her.
Two weeks later, her body was found 264 miles away lying a ditch at a roadside lay-by just outside Uttoxeter in the Midlands. Still wearing her T-shirt and shorts, her pants had been removed, folded and placed under the dead girl's cheek.
Work records showed that Black had been travelling between Edinburgh and Newcastle on the day Susan vanished and that he would usually return to London through the Midlands, where he would visit a friend.
The friend lived in Donisthorpe - 20 miles from the lay-by where Susan was found.
:: 1983 - Caroline Hogg - Murder
Five-year-old Caroline, from Portobello near Edinburgh, had spent most of Friday July 8, 1983, at a friend's birthday party. She wore a princess dress - one she loved so much that her parents let her keep it on for the rest of the day.
That evening back at her home on Beach Lane, she was allowed out to play for five minutes in the school grounds opposite her house. Caroline was forbidden to go any further on her own, to a nearby play park or the seaside promenade. Her mother went to call her in after about half an hour but there was no reply.
It emerged that a boy had spotted Caroline in the play park she was not allowed to go to. She was on the swings. The child also noticed a ''scruffy looking man'' sitting on the promenade watching her play.
Another child had seen her walking towards the town's funfair, Fun City, hand in hand with an unknown man.
A teenager who worked in the amusements saw the man pay for her to ride the roundabout.
After that there were no more sightings. Caroline, too, had disappeared into thin air.
Ten days later, again in the English Midlands, a girl's body was found. It was Caroline. Badly decomposed, the dead child was completely naked - again suggesting a sexual motive.
It later emerged that Black, who used to swim in Portobello as a teenager, had been back in the town the day Caroline disappeared, making a delivery.
Petrol receipts showed the van driver had filled up at Stafford on his way back to London - the service station being ten miles from where Caroline's body was found.
Five-year-old Caroline, from Portobello near Edinburgh, had spent most of Friday July 8, 1983, at a friend's birthday party. She wore a princess dress - one she loved so much that her parents let her keep it on for the rest of the day.
That evening back at her home on Beach Lane, she was allowed out to play for five minutes in the school grounds opposite her house. Caroline was forbidden to go any further on her own, to a nearby play park or the seaside promenade. Her mother went to call her in after about half an hour but there was no reply.
It emerged that a boy had spotted Caroline in the play park she was not allowed to go to. She was on the swings. The child also noticed a ''scruffy looking man'' sitting on the promenade watching her play.
Another child had seen her walking towards the town's funfair, Fun City, hand in hand with an unknown man.
A teenager who worked in the amusements saw the man pay for her to ride the roundabout.
After that there were no more sightings. Caroline, too, had disappeared into thin air.
Ten days later, again in the English Midlands, a girl's body was found. It was Caroline. Badly decomposed, the dead child was completely naked - again suggesting a sexual motive.
It later emerged that Black, who used to swim in Portobello as a teenager, had been back in the town the day Caroline disappeared, making a delivery.
Petrol receipts showed the van driver had filled up at Stafford on his way back to London - the service station being ten miles from where Caroline's body was found.
:: 1986 - Sarah Harper - Murder
Ten-year-old Sarah lived in the working class area of Morley in greater Leeds.
On the evening of Wednesday March 26, during her Easter holidays from school, she was sent on an errand to the corner shop by her mother. It was an awful night, with the rain pouring down.
Sarah pulled a blue anorak over her burgundy jumper, picked up two empty pop deposit bottles to reclaim some pennies and set off.
The shop keeper remembers her calling in, buying a loaf of bread for her mum and, with the money from the bottles, two packets of crisps.
She was last seen heading down a short alleyway on her way home.Then, nothing.
Ten-year-old Sarah lived in the working class area of Morley in greater Leeds.
On the evening of Wednesday March 26, during her Easter holidays from school, she was sent on an errand to the corner shop by her mother. It was an awful night, with the rain pouring down.
Sarah pulled a blue anorak over her burgundy jumper, picked up two empty pop deposit bottles to reclaim some pennies and set off.
The shop keeper remembers her calling in, buying a loaf of bread for her mum and, with the money from the bottles, two packets of crisps.
She was last seen heading down a short alleyway on her way home.Then, nothing.
Three and a half weeks later, a man walking his dog along the River Trent at Wilford near Nottingham saw something floating in the water.
He was shocked to realise it was a body - Sarah's. Her anorak was gone, as was her skirt. Better preserved than the other two girls as her body had been in water, a post-mortem examination revealed she he had been subjected to a violent sexual assault.
The cause of death was drowning, with tests suggesting she was still alive when dumped in the river, albeit possibly unconscious. Robert Black made a delivery in Morley the evening Sarah disappeared. A return trip to London via the River Trent would have seen him take the same exit off the M1 motorway he used when visiting his friend in Donisthorpe.
He was shocked to realise it was a body - Sarah's. Her anorak was gone, as was her skirt. Better preserved than the other two girls as her body had been in water, a post-mortem examination revealed she he had been subjected to a violent sexual assault.
The cause of death was drowning, with tests suggesting she was still alive when dumped in the river, albeit possibly unconscious. Robert Black made a delivery in Morley the evening Sarah disappeared. A return trip to London via the River Trent would have seen him take the same exit off the M1 motorway he used when visiting his friend in Donisthorpe.
:: 1988 - Teresa Thornhill - attempted abduction
Teresa was 15 years of age but looked much younger. She was only 4ft 10in and at the time conceded she looked about 12. On the evening of Sunday April 24, she was walking through the Radford area of Nottingham with a friend, Andrew Beeston.
It was then they spotted a blue Ford Transit van driving suspiciously.
After she and Andrew went their separate ways at a crossroads, Teresa again saw the vehicle, this time parked up in front of her on Norton Street.
The driver got out and opened the bonnet and shouted at the girl.
Feeling uneasy, she crossed to the other side of the road. Again the driver shouted out.
''Can you fix engines?'' Robert Black barked.
Next thing she knew he had grabbed her from behind, enveloping her in a tight bear hug, and tried to drag her over to his van. In her efforts to escape, Teresa bit Black on the hand and arm and knocked off his glasses.
He thrust his hand over her nose and mouth and tried to push her into the van door.
But the schoolgirl, stronger than her diminutive frame suggested, resisted fiercely, wedging her feet up on either side of the door frame and refusing to go in.
''Get in, you bitch,'' Black shouted.
But he could not push her through. Teresa later told police: ''I was fighting for my life.''
As the struggle continued Teresa's friend Andrew, who had heard her cries for help, came running to the scene. Black finally let go and the two of them ran away as the killer sped off in his van.
During his trial it emerged that Black had made a delivery just 500 yards from the scene of the attempted abduction earlier that day.
Teresa was 15 years of age but looked much younger. She was only 4ft 10in and at the time conceded she looked about 12. On the evening of Sunday April 24, she was walking through the Radford area of Nottingham with a friend, Andrew Beeston.
It was then they spotted a blue Ford Transit van driving suspiciously.
After she and Andrew went their separate ways at a crossroads, Teresa again saw the vehicle, this time parked up in front of her on Norton Street.
The driver got out and opened the bonnet and shouted at the girl.
Feeling uneasy, she crossed to the other side of the road. Again the driver shouted out.
''Can you fix engines?'' Robert Black barked.
Next thing she knew he had grabbed her from behind, enveloping her in a tight bear hug, and tried to drag her over to his van. In her efforts to escape, Teresa bit Black on the hand and arm and knocked off his glasses.
He thrust his hand over her nose and mouth and tried to push her into the van door.
But the schoolgirl, stronger than her diminutive frame suggested, resisted fiercely, wedging her feet up on either side of the door frame and refusing to go in.
''Get in, you bitch,'' Black shouted.
But he could not push her through. Teresa later told police: ''I was fighting for my life.''
As the struggle continued Teresa's friend Andrew, who had heard her cries for help, came running to the scene. Black finally let go and the two of them ran away as the killer sped off in his van.
During his trial it emerged that Black had made a delivery just 500 yards from the scene of the attempted abduction earlier that day.
Other convictions:
:: 1990 - Stow - abduction and sexual assault
Black was finally caught when he was stopped by police in the Scottish village of Stow with a six-year-old girl hooded, gagged, bound and stuffed in a sleeping bag in the back of his van.
He had snatched her from the village 20 minutes earlier and had taken her to a lay-by to molest her.
Black was sentenced to life imprisonment for the kidnap and attack.
But while Black got used to jail, detectives were methodically examining his past - an exercise that would eventually connect him to the three unsolved murders and the attempted abduction.
:: 1990 - Stow - abduction and sexual assault
Black was finally caught when he was stopped by police in the Scottish village of Stow with a six-year-old girl hooded, gagged, bound and stuffed in a sleeping bag in the back of his van.
He had snatched her from the village 20 minutes earlier and had taken her to a lay-by to molest her.
Black was sentenced to life imprisonment for the kidnap and attack.
But while Black got used to jail, detectives were methodically examining his past - an exercise that would eventually connect him to the three unsolved murders and the attempted abduction.
:: 1963 - Greenock, Inverclyde - lewd and libidinous behaviour
At the age of 16, Black lured a seven-year-old girl from a play park to a disused air raid shelter after promising to show her a box of kittens.
He choked her until she fell unconscious and then molested her.
Black left her for dead. She was later found wandering on her own, in tears and bleeding.
Remarkably, Black was not incarcerated for the crime after being found guilty of only ''lewd and libidinous'' behaviour.
:: 1966 - Kinlochleven, West Highlands - indecent assault
After the Greenock incident, Black returned to the place where he was raised only to again target a young girl, this time the daughter of a couple he was lodging with.
Entrusted to baby-sit the seven-year-old, Black instead took the opportunity to repeatedly violate her.
He was convicted of three counts of indecent assault and sent to borstal at Polmont near Falkirk for a year.
At the age of 16, Black lured a seven-year-old girl from a play park to a disused air raid shelter after promising to show her a box of kittens.
He choked her until she fell unconscious and then molested her.
Black left her for dead. She was later found wandering on her own, in tears and bleeding.
Remarkably, Black was not incarcerated for the crime after being found guilty of only ''lewd and libidinous'' behaviour.
:: 1966 - Kinlochleven, West Highlands - indecent assault
After the Greenock incident, Black returned to the place where he was raised only to again target a young girl, this time the daughter of a couple he was lodging with.
Entrusted to baby-sit the seven-year-old, Black instead took the opportunity to repeatedly violate her.
He was convicted of three counts of indecent assault and sent to borstal at Polmont near Falkirk for a year.
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