Missing | Three Doors Down Ep 1
On 7 October 1992, seven-year-old Nikki Allan was brutally murdered, her body left in a semi-derelict building. The child had been lured from nearby her home by a tall, white, clean-shaven man in his 20s whom she obviously knew. Her last moments alive were captured on CCTV – poor quality, grainy footage showing a small girl skipping behind a man who appears to be striding purposefully ahead. But Nikki’s killer got away with it – until he was finally convicted almost 31 years later. Nikki was a shy girl who lived in the east end of Sunderland on a run down estate with her three sisters and her mother, Sharon Henderson. Following her murder the police were quick to arrest and charge a local man, George Heron. But during his 1993 trial in Leeds the judge ruled that his confession was inadmissible because it had been obtained under duress. After the trial the police said they weren’t looking for anyone else for Nikki’s murder. From Sharon Henderson’s perspective this was just the first chapter in a botched police investigation which led to thirty years of trauma and a tireless quest for justice. Now, in great part thanks to Sharon’s campaign, a man has finally been convicted of Nikki’s murder.
Last year the feminist campaigner and journalist Julie Bindel approached Tortoise to tell Sharon’s story. Julie has known Sharon for more than sixteen years. It’s a story about a lot more than just a mother’s search for daughter’s killer, it’s also about police culture and how working class women like Sharon are sometimes treated.
