CHILD KILLER INQUEST
ANGER AS FAMILY OF SUSPECTED VICTIM NOT TOLD OF HEARING
AN inquest is due to open today into the prison death of child killer Robert Black.
However, the parents of one of his suspected victims have said they weren’t informed about the hearing.
A jury is to be sworn in at Armagh courthouse this morning to hear five days of evidence about Scots-born Black’s death from natural causes in January 2016 at Maghaberry prison.
He was serving life for four murders in the 1980s, including that of nine-year-old Ballinderry girl Jennifer Cardy.
Her body was found in a reservoir six days after she went missing while cycling to a friend’s home in August 1981.
Black was convicted of Jennifer’s murder 30 years later.
He was also suspected of many more child killings during his travels throughout the British Isles as a delivery driver.
He died when police in England were just weeks away from charging him with the killing of Genette Tate, a 13-year-old girl who disappeared in August 1978 on a paper round in Devon.
Her parents John Tate and Sheila Cook — who fear they will never get closure over Genette’s disappearance — have said they only became aware of the inquest after they were contacted by a newspaper.
Mr Tate (76) told the Daily Telegraph he “had a right to know” the inquest was taking place,
adding: “I was not told about it. It’s frustrating and annoying and makes me feel forgotten about.
“I don’t know really how to put it into words.
“I think the police should have kept us informed. We didn’t know anything about this to do with Robert Black’s inquest. It was a big surprise.”
Mrs Cook, who has since remarried and lives in Bristol, said: “I’m afraid I wasn’t aware the inquest was imminent. I haven’t heard anything
from Devon and Cornwall police since they effectively closed the case about 18 months ago. “Black’s death and its cause are somewhat tangential to Genette’s fate but I think it is right that the correct processes are followed.
“After all he did die very suddenly and unexpectedly.”
Her ex-husband, who lives in Manchester and is under constant care after suffering two strokes, said he would have liked to have gone to the inquest but the short notice and his lack of
mobility would make his attendance difficult.
“If a way was found, I would bucker up the strength and go. I will probably suffer for it in the end, but I would really like to know what it’s all about”, he added.
The Lord Chief Justice’s office in Belfast said the coroner’s service would only ever notify what it called “properly interested persons”, but in this case family members of victims or alleged victims of Black were not considered to be in that category.
Devon and Cornwall police said that they had been in touch with Genette Tate’s family and would ensure they were made aware of the details of the inquest.
Shortly after Black’s death, Jennifer Cardy’s parents Andy and Pat said the killer “would spend eternity in the flames of hell”.
Mr Cardy said: “Unless he sought and found redemption with the Lord, which is very unlikely, he will be a paedophile in Hell without salvation and he will be all on his own there for the rest of time, and that will be an awful place for him to be in.
“However, Jennifer is in Heaven and we know we will meet her there again.
“Pat and I had both had a feeling recently that we would hear quite soon that Black had died.
“I can’t explain it, but we both had the same idea that it was about to happen.”
The Cardys said they were “gutted” for Genette Tate’s parents because they would never see Black face a trial for the murder of which he was a prime suspect.
Genette was last seen in a country lane in Aylesbeare, Devon, in 1978.
In January, coroner Patrick McGurgan told a preliminary hearing that he was trying to trace relatives of Black to ask them if they wanted to take part in the inquest.
And in June, he said that no relatives had been found.
After his cremation at Roselawn, following after a six minute service, it was revealed that no one wanted Black’s ashes and they were scattered at sea.