Internet trolls give mother false hope in daughter’s murder case

A mother has revealed she has been targeted by sick hoaxers EIGHT times giving her false hope of police solving the 22-year mystery of her daughter’s murder.

Nikki Allan was just seven in 1992 when she was brutally battered and stabbed 37 times before her body was dumped in a derelict building in Sunderland.

For years, devastated mum Sharon Henderson has been campaigning to find Nikki’s killer. Now the 48-year-old gran has revealed how her hopes of justice have been raised by trolls contacting her via a campaign site on Facebook set up in her daughter’s memory.

Sharon said: “There was one man who said Nikki had been killed and put in a child’s buggy and moved somewhere. He gave some really horrible details.

“You think it is somebody who’s come forward with new information. But the police got involved and they went to this man’s caravan and he was just a loner who was using the campaign page to contact me.

“There are sick people around who are just doing it for a bit of attention. They are just sitting on their laptops all the time, looking for mischief. It is upsetting when we are trying to get justice for Nikki.”

Sharon, of Ryhope, Sunderland, said police had investigated eight times after malicious or hoax messages were left on the social networking site.

At the time that Nikki was murdered, police arrested a former neighbour, George Heron. Heron said he had murdered her, but a judge ruled his confession was inadmissible and he was cleared following a trial.

In February of this year, following an appeal on TV’s Crimewatch, a fresh suspect was arrested over Nikki’s murder. However, last month, police announced that the suspect’s bail had been cancelled.

Last night, Sharon, who has three other daughters and five granddaughters, hit out at police for failing to bring Nikki’s killer to justice.

She said: “I think it is disgraceful the way I have been treated again. The last time I spoke to the police was nearly three weeks ago and they said they were waiting for new evidence to come forward and then I found out the suspect’s bail had been cancelled. I read it in the papers and then it came on the TV news.

“I was the last person to know. It was disgusting that I had to go through it all again for nothing.”

Sharon is planning to take her fight for justice down to Downing Street next month where she will hand in a petition demanding Nikki’s killer is caught.

She revealed her heartbreak after a troll was arrested for posting sick messages as the ‘ghost’ of murdered toddler James Bulger.

The 62-year-old was quizzed by police after the twisted jibes appeared under a photo of the tragic youngster and his gravestone.

A spokesman for Northumbria Police said: “Inquiries are continuing into Nikki Allan’s death.”

Timeline of probe into Nikki’s murder

October 7, 1992: Nikki left her grandfather’s flat in Wear Garth, Sunderland, to walk 150 yards home. Her battered body was found the next day in the derelict Old Exchange building, 300 yards away.

October 1993: Neighbour George Heron, then 24, went on trial at Leeds Crown Court for murder. Judge Mr Justice Mitchell ruled out Heron’s confession after eight days of legal argument. Heron was acquitted and given a new identity. He moved away from Sunderland.

June 2006: Sharon said she was prepared to dig up the body of her own daughter in the hunt for evidence that could lead to the killer.

September 2013: Nikki’s murder featured on Crimewatch, including a reconstruction of her last movements. It aired to millions of TV viewers and threw up a “significant” new lead.

February 2014: A fresh suspect was arrested on suspicion of Nikki’s murder. Police delivered the news to Sharon just hours after she suffered a stroke which had been brought on by stress.

May 2014: Detectives announced that the suspect’s bail had been cancelled.

June 2014: Sharon reveals that internet trolls have given her false hope in the hunt to find her daughter’s killer.