Black’s appeal is dismissed

A bid by serial child killer Robert Black to overturn his conviction for kidnapping and murdering Ballinderry schoolgirl Jennifer Cardy has failed.
Jennifer Cardy who was murdered by serial paedophile Robert Black in 1981Jennifer Cardy who was murdered by serial paedophile Robert Black in 1981
Jennifer Cardy who was murdered by serial paedophile Robert Black in 1981

Last week, the Court of Appeal rejected claims that the former delivery man’s criminal past was wrongly revealed to a jury who found him guilty of abducting the nine-year-old.

Black (66), who worked at a dispatch firm, was said to have been in Northern Ireland at the time of the girl’s disappearance. Jennifer was snatched in August 1981 and her body discovered nearly a week later at a dam near Hillsborough.

In 2011, Black was found guilty of kidnapping and murdering Jennifer and ordered to serve at least 25 years in prison.

It emerged during the six-week trial at Armagh Crown Court that he had been convicted of killing three girls Susan Maxwell, Caroline Hogg and Sarah Harper, abducting a fourth and attempting to snatch another at Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in 1994.

Last Friday, Black appeared by a video-link with Maghaberry Prison for the verdict. Jennifer’s parents were in court.

Lord Chief Justice, Sir Declan Morgan, said: “We do not consider that the conviction is unsafe. The appeal is dismissed.”

He said that the approach taken at trial at the time was, more beneficial to the killer.

“This was clearly relevant evidence to which the jury were entitled to attribute high probative value,” he said.

“The prosecution case did not depend on scientific evidence alone there was also evidence of alleged admissions by way of the fantasy evidence.”