August 30th 2018 was a day that Nikki Allan should have been celebrating her
33rd birthday with her, family her friends, or maybe even a life partner.
instead she lay beneath a gravestone surrounded by her childhood toys with her
family still questioning the circumstances that put her there 26 years ago
this is the Curious Case of Nikki Allan
Hi YouTube is Joshua Miles and welcome back to my channel! Today I'm going to
covering another curious case for you. thank you so much for you support on my
last curious crime video if you missed it you can find a link in the
description box below it covers the curious case of Marlene Santana who was
kidnapped at just three days old. It's truly a heartbreaking case.
I'd just like to point out that this video has not been made to cause disrespect or
anything like that - it's just being made to create awareness about this case by
pulling information from different public sources on the Internet.
I've left contact information for the Northumbria Police Department and Crimestoppers in
the description box below it just in case anybody watching this video may
have any more information that could aid in this case, maybe even help to close it
Crimestoppers currently has a £10,000 reward for any information leading
to a conviction in this case. Now with all that being said let's delve right into the case.
Nikki Allan was born in Sunderland in the northeast of England
on the 30th of August 1985 to her mother Sharon Prest who's now known as Sharon
Henderson and her father David Allen. She had a fairly normal early childhood
growing up with her three sisters in the where Wear Garth block of flats which
overlooked the ports in Sunderland's East End. Nikki was described as bright
and sparkly by all those who knew her. She enjoyed playing with her friends and
her toys just like any regular 7 year old girl would. Nikki had a special love
for cheese and onion crisps and was always sure to have a packet of them every day
with her school packed lunch. Nikki's grandparents on her mum's side
lived in the same block of flats as them her family were very close to one
another with her grandparents often helping Sharon look after the kids
Sharon always ensured that children were well fed, clothed and cared for and she
always put her children in front of herself
On October the 7th 1992, Nikki spent the evening playing with her cousin and her
older sister Stacy.
[Nikki's Mum] Girls I'm just popping out I'll be five minutes.
[Nikki] Okay
Sharon went to her father and stepmother's flat which was in the same block
a short walk away. It wasn't long before she was followed by Nikki and her cousin
[Nikki] Mum can we go up the park tomorrow?
Sharon told Nicky to go home promising her should be back soon.
Sharon returns her flat a short time later and went to check on the children.
[Stacey, Nikki's sister] Mum... she didn't come home.
[Woman] She won't have gone far, Sharon.
[Sharon] (shouting over and over) Nikki!
[Sharon] Where could she be?!
Within just a couple of minutes
Nikki Allan had vanished.
The flat where Nikki lived was just 150 yards from her
grandparents flat where she was last seen leaving.
Within an hour of her
disappearance the police had been called and were on the scene. While the East End
of Sunderland was poverty-stricken and often described as having not all too
much to boast about, it sure as hell had a tight-knit community.
The kind of community where everyone knows each other and their day-to-day comings and
goings. As you can imagine the news of Nikki's disappearance spread like
wildfire through the community. And a search team was quickly formed of over
100 police officers and volunteers
They were going door-to-door checking parks, playgrounds, alleyways, industrial
units and the waterfront whether River Wear ran through the city
a river renowned for its deceptive depth and undercurrents.
The next morning...
the body of Nikki Allan was found in the Quayside exchange building.
A search team led by Nikki's aunt had spotted a pair of shoes outsiide the derelict and long abandoned
building.
Inside her body was discovered. Nikki had been brutally beaten with a
brick and stabbed over 37 times in the chest and abdomen
The police immediately started interviewing locals
to see if anybody had seen or interacted with Nikki on the night of her
disappearance. It was a result of this questioning that a discrepancy in the
times when he left her grandparents flat surfaced.
Some people were saying 7:30PM
others 9:30PM and others even later than that.
However the vast majority of people
interviewed agreed that whatever time Nikki left a flat she left 10 minutes
before her mother did.
A few witnesses report seeing Nikki as late as 10 p.m.
asking for "a penny for the guy", which is a bonfire night tradition amongst
British children, outside the Boar's Head pub which was opposite the block of
flats where Nikki lived.
With one witness even claiming to have heard a little
girl screams coming from the general direction of the Quayside exchange
building.
This is the BBC crime watch reconstruction that shows Nikki skipping
past the pub with witnesses and heading towards the dock by herself
[Dog barks in the distance]
Somewhere along the way she meets a man - probably a stranger - who witnesses claim
to have seen her walking along the canal with. The man wore a white smart shirt
and walked ahead while Nikki skipped behind him.
The police actually found CCTV
evidence that corroborates the witnesses statements.
The CCTV footage is extremely
low quality but here you can see the man walking, followed by what is believed to
be the last known sighting of Nikki Allan before her death.
During the interviewing of the locals the police kept hearing the same name
over and over again. It was the name of a man who was branded "the local weirdo" who
allegedly frequented the Quayside exchange building where Nikki's body was
found. One week later police arrested 24 year
old George heron in relation to the murder of Nikki Allan.
George Heron lived in the estate as Nikki Allan with his sister.
And despite only living there
for a few weeks locals had already become suspicious of
his behavior. He was often seen going in and out of the Quayside exchange
building. It is still unknown to the public today what George was doing when
he was going in and out of this building.
According to a number of witnesses
George Heron was actually seen at Boar's Head pub buying a particular flavor of
- crisps cheese and onion. Now cheese and onion crisps where Nikki's favourite but
obviously a man buying crisps does not link him to such a gruesome crime
perhaps, you know, George just likes cheese and onion crisps.
Personally I'd say this
action on its own is nowhere near enough to stop pointing fingers.
While interviewing George Heron's sister, police discovered that allegedly when he came
home on the night of Nikki's murder he uncharacteristically went straight
upstairs and started washing himself and his clothes for a good half hour.
Upon hearing this the police immediately went straight to George Heron's flat and began
a search where they found clothing and trainers with blood splatters on them
they also discovered a knife which they claimed to match the stab wounds on
Nikki's body. Contrary to nearly every witness statement, George Heron
categorically denies ever going to a pub that night.
He actually denied knowing
Nikki a hundred and twenty times during interviewing however after three solid
days of questioning George heron confessed to the murder of Nikki Allen
he was immediately charged with the murder and despite the case being very
very public it took two years before it went to trial
unfortunately the trial is easily the most controversial and frustrating part
of this case to ensure a fair trial this case was sent to the Leeds crown court
to avoid prejudice. Despite the distance scores of locals made the almost a
hundred mile trip from Sunderland to Leeds.
The police working on this case
were extremely confident that the trial would result in a successful conviction
they had several witnesses claiming to have seen a man of Heron's description
in the vicinity of the victim on the night of her murder.
Like I said earlier
he was seen buying cheese and onion crisps which police believed he used to
lure Nikki to her death and we can't forget that forensics literally found
blood splatters on his clothing and trainers.
The police also believe that
they had found the alleged murder weapon in his house
oh and George Heron had also confessed.
Despite all the evidence the judge
Mr Justice Mitchell immediately criticized police for the way they handled the
evidence and suspect.
The judge listened to all the tapes and read all the
transcripts from the interviews with Heron.
He ruled 7 of the 12 tapes as
inadmissible - including the most important tape which involved Heron's
confession which the prosecution deemed pivotal.
The judge stated that the police
misrepresented the evidence to George Heron and most controversially they'd
use oppressive methods while obtaining a confession from Heron.
The first six
hours of Heron's questioning had been attended by a legal secretary and not a
qualified solicitor.
The police in the UK are required by law to inform and allow
anyone being interviewed that they are allowed to have a qualified solicitor present.
Despite denying that he knew Nikki 120 times, police continued to interview
Heron for three days straight and treated him as if he was the murderer
According to the judge due to those three days of intensive and oppressive
interviewing in a state of mental fatigue George Heron confessed.
The judge ruled that circumstance was not tantamount to a full and willing confession.
Their evidence of blood splatters and weapons matching Nikki's wounds were very
circumstantial. Please keep in mind that at this time DNA testing was not very
advanced so they could not check the DNA on the blood splatters with the DNA of
Nikki Allan, and as a result of that the prosecution became very very reliant on
witness statements.
But there was a further issue with the witness statements.
The witnesses gave differing descriptions of the events of that night
different descriptions of Heron, and most crucially that couldn't identify Heron in a
police lineup. The case was tried for six weeks before
Mr Justice Mitchell ordered the jury to acquit George Heron of the murder charge
Nikki's mother collapsed.
Her family and friends are erupted with anger in the
courtroom and apparently a few members of the jury began to weep.
Many of the jurors later sent letters to Sharon - Nikki's mother - telling her that they
believe George heron was guilty.
However under the court's ruling George heron
was found innocent and walked free that same day. He was later given a new
identity by the state and moved out of the area altogether.
To this day the Northumbria Police Department maintain that the interviews were conducted
properly and that the judges statement that the interviews were oppressive was
down to interpretation
The collapse of the trial completely destroyed Sharon. Rumors began
circulating that Sharon was an unfit mother and was neglecting her children
that she was a goodtime girl that cared more about partying than parenting.
Those rumors on top of her daughter's brutal murder that had seen no justice
completely destroyed Sharon.
The police that actually completely stopped contact
with Sharon and provided no explanation or apology for what happened in the
courtroom Sharon's slowly but surely began to
rebuild her life and dedicated it to trying to find justice for her daughter Nikki.
In 1994 Sharon sued George Heron for 'the battery of a child resulting in
her death' and she won being awarded £7,000 in damages.
Heron never contested the case and until this day
Sharon has never received a single dime.
Sharon tried to move on with her life, she tried to live for her other children.
she eventually remarried but the grief consumed her. Eventually her marriage
broke down and her relationships became strained
There's only been a few leads
in the case since the trial. Most notably, in 2014, a 47 year old man named Stephen
Grieveson was arrested in relation to the case also known as the Sunderland
strangler who at the time was serving three life sentences for the murders of
three teenage boys between 1993 and 1994.
The news of his arrest was met with pure
joy from Nikki's family.
Sharon had become so overwhelmed
of the news that she collapsed and actually suffered a minor stroke
unfortunately the joy and celebration was short-lived the police released Grieveson
back into the prison population on bail and the line of inquiry was
eventually dropped
In April 2018, a man was arrested in relation to the case
after police said they had used advanced techniques to recover DNA from
pre-existing samples.
The suspect remains unnamed and they actually released him under
investigation with inquiries still ongoing
Sharon's two and a half decade campaign for Nikki's justice continues.
Thank you so much for watching this episode in my curious case true crime series.
Again, if you have any information on this case please use the contact information in
the description box below.
Let me know in the comments what you think of this case
what do you think happened to Nikk? Was George Heron guilty? Give this video a
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