A sex offender has been convicted of murdering seven-year-old Nikki Allan in October 1992. David Boyd, 55, evaded justice for 30 years after luring the girl to her brutal death in Sunderland. Newcastle Crown Court heard the killer was known to Nikki's family and lived in the same block of flats as her. Investigators believe he hit the girl outside a derelict warehouse before lifting her inside where he carried out a horrific attack that saw Nikki stabbed 37 times in the chest. Locals told police they had heard piercing screams on the night of the murder. Northumbria Police initially prosecuted an innocent man, George Heron, who was acquitted in a trial in 1993. Officers arrested Boyd in 2018 after advances in DNA testing had implicated him in the crime. Speaking after Boyd was convicted, Nikki's mother Sharon Henderson spoke of the "injustice" of her long wait for answers.