CHILD KILLER ‘ROBERT REASON KIDS NO PLAY IN
CHILD killer Robert Black’s warped reign of terror changed Britain for ever, police say.
Black sparked widespread fear when he assaulted and murdered at least four girls aged under 12.
Psychologists are convinced he is to blame for parents no longer feeling safe to let their children play outside.
Former Met police commander Gary Copson said: “When I grew up, we played in the street.
“Kids don’t play in the street anymore and one of the reasons I think was because Robert
Black created a kind of terror that made parents afraid to have their children out of their sight.”
Black, who is one of Britain’s worst serial child killers, repeatedly sought out young girls to abduct, assault and murder between 1981 and 1986.
His job as a lorry driver allowed him to dump their bodies without sparking suspicion. His spree triggered the most extensive murder investigation of the 20th Century.
After he was arrested, even hardened police officers were stunned by what they discovered. Mr Copson, inset, said: “I was on duty at Scotland Yard on the day he was arrested and had to brief the commissioner.
“I think the really frightening thing was the way in which he pootled along in his van back past the area to go and fill up the van with petrol.
“One of the first things he did after he had taken a child was 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.” Paedophile Black was convicted of three murders in 1994, along with a fourth in 2011, but he was a suspect in nine further cases – including that of 13-year-old Genette Tate. She disappeared on Devon in 1978. Her body has never been found. Black was jailed for the murders of Susan Maxwell, 11, Caroline Hogg, five, Sarah Harper, 10, and Jennifer Cardy, nine. Forensic psychiatrist Richard