What happened?
On Wednesday 7 October 1992 at around 21:30, 7-year-old Nikki Allan disappeared after leaving her grandparents’ flat in Wear Garth, Hendon, east of Sunderland City. Nikki lived just a short distance away in the same block of flats. She never returned home and that evening Nikki was reported missing by her mother, Sharon Henderson.
A search by local residents and the police commenced and during subsequent inquiries the following sightings were established:
• At 21:43 Nikki was seen outside the Boar’s Head Public House opposite the Wear Garth flats.
• At 21:51 witnesses saw a child, fitting Nikki’s description, walking behind a male in the direction of The Old Exchange Building on High Street East.
• At 21:57 low quality images were captured on CCTV from the Roseline building on Low Street. They show blurred images of a man, followed by a small child walking in the direction of the Old Exchange Building. The figure was wearing a light coloured shirt and dark trousers. Police believe this is the last sighting of Nikki alive.
The morning after Nikki’s disappearance, Thursday 8 October at about 09:15, Nikki’s coat and shoes were found just a few hundred yards from where she had last been seen alive.
A short time after, her body was found in the basement of the derelict Old Exchange Building on High Street East in Hendon, Sunderland. She was found brutally murdered in the disused building. Nikki had been hit over the head with a brick and stabbed 37 times.
No one has ever been convicted of the savage murder of Nikki Allan back in 1992, her killer remains at large. Now, nearly 21 years on, her family are still desperate to find her killer and detectives are keen to solve one of the worst undetected murders in the Northumbria area.
A 43-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murdering 7-year-old girl Nikki Allan in the UK 21 years ago, and released on bail, yesterday. Her murder, in which she was hit in the head and stabbed dozens of times, has not resulted in anyone being convicted thus far.

Nikki Allan disappeared after leaving her grandparents' apartment in the city of  in  of England to walk back to her own, which was in the same block, on October 7, 1992. She failed to return and was found dead the next day in the Old Exchange Building, which was derelict at the time and close to her home, with 37 stab wounds and damage to her head by a brick.

Until now, no individual has been convicted in connection with Allan's death. A male neighbour previously charged with her murder was found not guilty in 1994 when a judge determined police had used "oppressive methods" in getting him to make a confession.

 collaborated last year with the BBC to reconstruct the last sightings of Nikki Allan in an appeal on a September 2013 edition of ''''. Nikki Allan's mother Sharon Henderson held a vigil to mark the 21st anniversary of her daughter's death in October last year.


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