THERE WERE emotional scenes in Armagh Crown Court shortly after noon yesterday when Robert Black was convicted of the 1981 abduction and murder of nine-year-old Jennifer Cardy.
Black has now been convicted of the sexual assaults and murders of four children in Britain and Northern Ireland. The senior investigating officer, PSNI Det Supt Raymond Murray, indicated that further murder charges could be brought against him.
The forewoman of the jury of nine women and three men delivered the guilty verdict calmly and strongly that 30 years ago, on August 12th, Black (64), originally from Stirling in Scotland, snatched Jennifer as she was cycling near her home in Ballinderry in Lisburn, Co Antrim.
She was equally firm of voice when she said the paedophile serial child-killer was also guilty of murdering the young girl whose body was discovered in a dam 18 miles away, near Hillsborough, Co Down.
Other members of the jury were in tears. There was a loud exhalation of relief from the extended Cardy family when the verdict was announced. Jennifer’s father Andy put his arms around his wife Patricia, who could not control her tears.
Black showed no emotion whatsoever – similar to the demeanour he exhibited when in 1994 in England he was convicted of the murder of three young girls, Susan Maxwell, Caroline Hogg and Sarah Harper.
Black, who exploited his job as a van driver, travelling in Britain and Ireland to carry out the attacks, was given the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment.
Mr Justice Weatherup said he would decide the minimum sentence he must serve at a later date. Black is already serving 35 years in prison in England and will not be considered for release until 2029.
Outside the court, Andy Cardy, flanked by Patricia and children Victoria, Philip and Mark, expressed the family’s relief and satisfaction with the jury’s unanimous verdict. “We leave the court so happy that justice has been done and Robert Black will never again be able to harm another wee girl. He will be in jail until he dies,” he said.
Mr Cardy said he did not hate Black, he just pitied him. He believed that Black should have faced the death sentence, adding that he meant his comments in a “just and righteous” way, rather than a “vengeful” way.
“For the last six weeks we have had to endure and listen to how Robert Black kidnapped and sexually abused and murdered our daughter and our children’s sister and it has been absolutely horrendous,” he said.
“We heard things that, in all honesty, wasn’t even in our imagination and for 30 years we, as a family, really have never tried to understand or try to think about what in the last hours of her life she went through.
“And all of a sudden we were confronted with the awfulness of those last few hours and what she would have had to suffer and that has been truly awful for each and every one of us.”
Nonetheless, Mr Cardy said the family had prayed for Black that he “would some day know Jesus as his saviour, just as Jennifer knew Jesus as her saviour, and the wonderful thing is that some day we will be reunited with Jennifer in glory and that is just a wonderful thing to know”.
He said despite their sorrow, family members were able to live without bitterness and vengeance in their hearts. “Robert Black stole the life of our daughter, Jennifer, but Robert Black didn’t steal the lives of me and my family. We’ve lived a happy, prosperous life, but we miss Jennifer each and every day.”
Det Supt Murray said Black to “a great extent was a lost cause to humanity”. He indicated that he could face further charges.
“The story of Robert Black does not end with this verdict,” he said. “There are lines of inquiry which we still have and are still looking at . . . I think there is still more work to do around Robert Black.”
Det Supt Murray did not give specifics but it is understood that he remains the prime suspect in the case of missing 13-year-old Genette Tate, who was last seen in a country lane in Aylesbeare, Devon, in 1978.
