Another life sentence for Leeds schoolgirl killer Robert Black

Black, convicted in 1994 of murdering Leeds schoolgirl Sarah Harper, was sentenced at Belfast Crown Court after he was found guilty last month of snatching nine-year-old Jennifer Cardy as she cycled to a friend’s house in Ballinderry, County Antrim, in 1981.

The 64-year-old former delivery driver abducted Jennifer while on a work trip to Northern Ireland and dumped her body in water close to the main Belfast-Dublin road near Hillsborough, Co Antrim, before catching a ferry home.

Black, who is already serving multiple life terms in Wakefield prison, was sentenced by Mr Justice Ronald Weatherup, who had earlier heard the killer’s own lawyer offer no plea for mercy.

David Spens QC told the judge: “This is one of those rare cases in which there is no mitigation and so I propose to say nothing in that regard.”

Prosecution barrister Toby Hedworth QC argued that Black should face a whole life term, given his other killings.

Around 40 killers including Moors Murderer Ian Brady and Rose West have formally been told they will never be released.

But the judge gave him another life sentence with a minimum of 25 years instead.

Jennifer’s murder was the fourth for which Black has been convicted.

In 1994, he was found guilty of three unsolved child murders in the 1980s - those of 11-year-old Susan Maxwell, from the Scottish Borders, five-year-old Caroline Hogg, from Edinburgh, and Sarah Harper, 10, from Morley, near Leeds.

Detectives in England are reviewing the evidence against Black in connection with another schoolgirl’s disappearance.

Jennifer’s family were in court today to see the killer sentenced.

Andy and Pat Cardy heard Mr Justice Weatherup tell their daughter’s killer he would be at least 89 before he would be considered for release.

The judge said: “Your crime was particularly serious.

“You subjected a vulnerable child to unpardonable terror and took away her life.”

Paedophile Black was convicted of Jennifer’s murder in October following a six-week trial at Armagh Crown Court.

Black, flanked by prison officers in the dock, and only a few feet away from Jennifer’s parents, was handcuffed before he was led away.

The judge said of Jennifer’s murder: “This was an act of sexual predation.”

He added: “Victim impact statements have been provided by Jennifer’s father and her brother Phillip. Her father speaks poignantly about Jennifer, of the family’s awareness of Jennifer’s absence from all family occasions, and of the harrowing revelations in the course of the trial.”

Black’s reign of terror finally ended in 1990 when he was caught red handed with a six-year-girl hooded, bound, gagged and stuffed in a sleeping bag in the back of his van in the Scottish village of Stow. He had sexually assaulted her moments earlier.

During his trial for Jennifer’s murder, Black did not betray a flicker of emotion, presenting an unwavering picture of cold indifference.

Black was born in 1947 near Falkirk in Scotland to a single mother who put him up to be fostered within weeks.

The couple who took him in later died and Black was placed in a children’s home back in Falkirk.

The predatory paedophile has long been the prime suspect in the case of missing 13-year-old Genette Tate, who was last seen in a rural lane in Aylesbeare, Devon, in 1978.