Child killer Black is reason kids don’t play outside: officer
CHILD killer Robert Black is the reason children rarely play outside, according to a police officer who worked on the case.
Former Metropolitan Police commander Gary Copson has said he believes the serial killer — who murdered Co Antrim schoolgirl Jennifer Cardy in 1981 — is to blame for parents stopping their children playing in the street.
Speaking to a new TV programme about delivery driver Black — who was convicted of murdering four girls in the 1980s — Mr Copson said: “Kids don’t play in the street any more and one of the reasons was because Robert Black created a kind of terror that made parents afraid to have their children out of their sight.
“I think the really frightening thing was the way in which Black pootled along in his van back past the area and filled up his van with petrol.
“It was one of the first things he did after he had taken a child, go fill the van with petrol. And the reason he did that was because the receipt for the petrol was his souvenir.
“When his house was searched they found a cache of souvenirs, many of which were petrol receipts which placed him in the crucial areas on the crucial days.”
Black — found dead aged 68 in his cell in Maghaberry prison in January 2016 — was serving a number of life sentences.
An inquest jury ruled he died of a heart attack.
Black, from Falkirk, Scotland, was raised by foster parents and later lived in care homes, where it is thought he was sexually abused.
In 1994 he was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering three of his victims.
Susan Maxwell (11), was abducted in 1982 near the border between Scotland and England. Her body was gagged and bound and she was found 250 miles away in England.
Black’s next victim Caroline Hogg was just five when she was abducted from Portobello in Edinburgh in 1983. Her body was recovered 300 miles away.
Sarah Harper (10), was abducted in 1986 from the Scottish border town of Coldstream. She was found dead in the River Trent near Nottingham.
Black was convicted in 2011 of sexually assaulting and murdering nine-year-old Jennifer Cardy before dumping her in a dam. The Ballinderry schoolgirl was abducted cycling to a friend’s house near her home in 1981.
At the time of his death, Black was suspected of the 1978 murder of Genette Tate (13), in Aylesbury, Devon and was linked to unsolved murders in Britain, Ireland and other parts of Europe.
The Sunday Express reported that forensic psychiatrist Richard Badcock, who questioned the killer in prison, told the Making A Monster programme: “What he mostly wanted to get across was how badly he had been treated at various stages of life. That was his central mantra, as it were. Would he proudly describe himself as a serial killer? No, he would describe himself as the unfortunate victim of life.”
But forensic psychologist Paul Britton said: “There were many, many points at which he could have said, ‘Stop’ ... at which he could have asked for help, at which he could have looked for intervention. He didn’t do any of those thing.”
The Making A Monster episode featuring Black will be shown on the Crime+Investigation Channel tonight