Child killer quizzed over girls

Robert Black: Denied abducting Genette or Jennifer

Child killer Robert Black is to be interviewed about the disappearance of a Devon schoolgirl 26 years ago and the 1981 murder of a Northern Ireland girl.

Genette Tate, 13, vanished from the village of Aylesbeare in August 1978 while delivering newspapers. Her body has never been found.

The body of 9-year-old Jennifer Cardy, from County Antrim, was found in a reservoir in 1981.

A police spokesman said the interviews will take place later this year.

Continuing inquiry

The two police forces have been working together on the two cases since similarities between the two were discussed at a meeting in Belfast in 2003.

Asst Ch Con Richard Stowe of Devon and Cornwall Police is the senior officer co-ordinating the joint investigation.

Genette Tate's disappearance is Britain's longest-running missing person inquiry.

Genette's body was never found

She was last seen by two friends in Within Lane, near her home on the afternoon of 19 August, 1978.

Genette's bicycle and papers were found in the road.

In recent years, Devon and Cornwall Police have focussed the investigation on triple child killer Robert Black, 57, who was sentenced to 10 life sentences in 1994 for the abduction and murder of three young girls and the attempted abduction of a 15-year-old.

Black has been interviewed twice by detectives from Devon, in 1996 and 1998, but on both occasions he denied abducting Genette.

A team of 20 officers is still investigating Genette's disappearance and say the inquiry will continue "as long as there is something positive to inquire into".