CONVICTED triple child killer Robert Black will not face prosecution over the death of a schoolgirl who disappeared 30 years ago today.
Black, who murdered three young girls in the early 1980s, including Caroline Hogg, five, from Edinburgh, and Susan Maxwell, 11, from the Borders, will not face charges over the death of Genette Tate after prosecutors ruled that there was insufficie
nt evidence to mount a court case.
The newspaper delivery girl was last seen in her home village of Aylesbeare, near Exeter in Devon, on 19 August, 1978. Her body has never been found.
Black, originally from Grangemouth, Stirlingshire, is serving ten life sentences in Wakefield jail after he was convicted of three child abductions and murders and the attempted abduction of a 15-year-old girl.
Long considered a suspect in the disappearance of Genette, 13, yesterday's announcement was described as a "bombshell" by her father, John.
"I am in a complete state of shock," Mr Tate said. "Robert Black has been the prime suspect in the police inquiry. Now I don't know where we are.
"It is a bombshell. Only last year we were told a prosecution may be looming.
We have had our hopes dashed so many times in the past, but this is a new low. We have been very patient waiting for 30 years to try and get some justice – now we have no idea what the future holds. It seems to me now that we will never find out what happened to Genette."
The 66-year-old, who has terminal prostate cancer, added: "I would be heartbroken to die without ever knowing where my Ginny was. I had always hoped to see someone go on trial, but, realistically, I won't live to see that now. However, I do have the strength to bury my daughter and I just want the chance to be able to do that. I want to know where she is now, where she is buried, so that we could give her a decent Christian burial."
Black was sentenced to a minimum of 35 years at Newcastle Crown Court in 1994 for the murders of Susan, Caroline and ten-year-old Sarah Harper, from Morley, near Leeds.
The prosecution described him as every parent's worst nightmare, and detectives who dealt with him were certain he had claimed other victims.
Black, who lived in London and worked as a delivery driver, was visited in prison by detectives from Devon and Cornwall Police in 1996, 1998 and 2005, each time denying any involvement in Genette's death.
Mr Tate wrote to Black to ask him to meet in an effort to get to the truth, but he did not reply.
Genette was last seen by two friends in the village's Within Lane. Less than 20 minutes later, they found her bike and newspapers lying in a roadway.
Within an hour, police had launched a hunt for her, including the use of a helicopter, and about 7,000 volunteers carried out searches over the next few days. Some 500 lakes, rivers and wells were trawled.
Black, now 61, has also been quizzed by police in Northern Ireland about the abduction and murder of Jennifer Cardy, nine, in 1981.
A Crown Prosecution Service spokesman said yesterday: "There is insufficient evidence to justify the institution of criminal proceedings."
A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said it had been informed that "there is insufficient evidence to justify the institution of criminal proceedings against the individual arrested by the force in connection with the disappearance of Genette Tate".
He went on: "The force is aware that the 30th anniversary is approaching and would ask anyone with further information concerning this unsolved crime to contact the force. The investigation remains open."
Three little girls' lives snuffed out – and there could have been moreROBERT Black abducted Susan Maxwell in July 1982 as she cycled to a tennis game. Her body was found next to a lay-by on the A8515 near Uttoxeter, 250 miles from Coldstream, where she had last been seen.
A year later, Caroline Hogg vanished from Portobello. The five-year-old had been at a friend's party and was playing in a local park when Black lured her away.
Her body was found ten days later in a lay-by at Twycross near the A444, less than 24 miles from where Susan had been found.
In 1986, Sarah Harper, ten, from Leeds, became his third victim. Black later abducted a Nottingham girl, aged 15, who survived to give evidence against him.
He was caught as he kidnapped and assaulted a girl of six in the Borders village of Stow in July 1990. A local man witnessed the abduction and called the police. The officer who stopped Black was the girl's father – he found her bound and gagged inside a sleeping bag. She was judged to be only 20 minutes from suffocation.
Black, who has been linked to murders in six countries over the past 21 years, has always refused to co-operate with police investigations.
The full article contains 850 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
