Back in the late 1980s I had been working as a computer operator in an outdoor activities centre in Sunderland on what was then known as the Community Programme. When that scheme ended it became Employment Training and I was expected to train adults in keyboard skills.

I had been using one of the Amstrad PCW machines – which were from Alan Sugar and supposedly compatible with IBM computers but nowhere near as good – and knew my way around various programs such as word processors and databases. So I was required to pass on those skills.

One of the trainees was a guy called George Heron. If I am being honest he was quite introverted and had not been dealt a good hand in life. As I recall he was obsessed with Dr Who, long before it received its popular reboot in the mid-2000s starring Christopher Eccleston, and he actually referred to himself as The Doctor.

But on the whole I thought he was mostly harmless, but that would be a Douglas Adams Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy reference, and he seemed to get on well with the other trainees.

During my time there I took these photos of the trainees, including for publicity purposes and as a last group shot, before the contract ended in 1989.

Fast forward to 1992 when, after successfully completing my press photography course in Sheffield, I had started my first journalism job in Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria.

I was driving in the pool car and a news report came on the radio which said that he was the main suspect for the Nikki Allan murder – I actually did a double take as the name sounded uncannily familiar.

The seven-year old was beaten and stabbed to death in the Exchange Building, a disused warehouse in Sunderland, in October 1992.

It turned out Heron was a neighbour and he confessed to the murder, after police found evidence in his flat, but he was acquitted after the judge ruled that that his confession was made under oppressive conditions.

When I first heard the report I rang a mate on the Sunderland Echo and told him I had photos of Heron and wondered if the nationals would be interested. He said he would look into it.

Once he had collected the negatives it turned out that The Sun were interested – imagine my excitement as a very inexperienced snapper faced with the prospect of a publication in a national newspaper. Having said that I had already had my portrait of John Peel featured in the NME so I was used to this kind of thing.

However my optimism was short lived because an agency photographer, from my future employer, managed to get a snatched shot of Heron leaving court after one of his appearances which made my photos worthless. C’est la vie eh?

It turned out he was given a new identity and he left the UK for a new life.

Anyway here are a couple of links to give a little background:

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/sunderland-nikki-allan-murder-cps-22709047

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/nikki-allan-murder-stabbed-schoolgirls-18789796