British killer questioned over 1981 North girl's murder

A convicted triple child killer is being questioned by detectives in Northern Ireland today about the murder of a nine-year-old…

A convicted triple child killer is being questioned by detectives in Northern Ireland today about the murder of a nine-year-old girl more than 20 years ago.

Robert Black was jailed in Britain in 1994 and is serving 10 life sentences for the abduction and murder of three young girls and the abduction of a 15-year-old girl.

The PSNI said they had arrested a 58-year-old man on suspicion of murder and that he was being questioned at Antrim Police station about the murder of Jennifer Cardy in 1981.

It is understood the PSNI has been preparing to bring Black to the North from Wakefield Prison in Yorkshire for some time.

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Northern Ireland police investigating the murder have for years been working in tandem with Devon and Cornwall police investigating the disappearance of 13-year-old Genette Tate, who vanished from a country lane near her home in east Devon in 1978.

There are close similarities in the murder of Jennifer Cardy and disappearance of Genette Tate. Jennifer, from Ballinderry, Co Antrim, was snatched as she was cycling to a friend's home on August 12th, 1981.

Her red bike was discovered in a field beside a hedge, near her home, and her body was found six days later by two fishermen at McKee's Dam, a few miles away near Hillsborough, Co Down.

Genette disappeared from Within Lane, near Aylesbeare in Devon on August 29th, 1978 while delivering copies of a local paper. Her bicycle was found, undamaged, lying in the lane by two girls who had been walking towards the village with Genette just minutes before.

The teenager's body was never found and the case became Britain's longest missing person inquiry.