Child Killer Jailed For 25 Years

Nine-year-old Jennifer Cardy was killed by Black in 1991

Serial child killer Robert Black has been sentenced to 25 years in jail for the murder of a nine-year-old girl in Northern Ireland 30 years ago.

Black was convicted of the murder last month.
It was August 1981 when the Scottish van driver, now aged 64, snatched Jennifer Cardy from her bicycle near her home in Balinderry in County Antrim.
Hundreds of people joined a search for her but it ended tragically six days later with the discovery of her body in a dam 15 miles from her home.
The judge, Mr Justice Weatherup, said Black had "subjected a vulnerable child to unpardonable terror" and forever wounded her family.
In victim impact statements, her father Andy spoke of "the absence in the family" and Jennifer's brother Philip revealed he still dreamt about her final moments.
Afterwards, Andy Cardy said he and his wife Pat were "satisfied that Robert Black would never roam the streets of Great Britain again or torture little girls".
Robert Black had already been jailed in Scotland and then England for killing three schoolgirls, abducting a fourth and attempting to abduct a fifth.
His earlier victims were Susan Maxwell, 11, from Cornhill-on-Tweed, Caroline Hogg, 5 from Edinburgh and Sarah Harper, 10 from Leeds.
A fuel receipt, the record of a bonus paid to drivers and photographs of billboard posters he delivered placed Black in Northern Ireland at the time of Jennifer's disappearance.
Prosecution lawyer Toby Hedworth QC said the subsequent murders should be taken into account and argued for a "whole of life" sentence.
The defence made no plea for mercy. David Spens QC: "This is one of those rare cases in which there is no mitigation".
The 25-year term means Robert Black will be nearly 90 years old before he is eligible for parole.
He is appealing the conviction.

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