Three doors down Tortoise
-
- News
-
Full series out now
Three doors down: a murder, a mother and a thirty year investigation
In May 2023 David Boyd was found guilty of the brutal murder in 1992 of seven year-old Nikki Allan. Sharon Henderson, Nikki’s mother, called for a public inquiry into why it had taken the police so long to find and convict her daughter’s murderer.
When Nikki was murdered, Sharon was a single mother of four living in Wear Garth, a rundown housing estate in Sunderland. David Boyd lived a few floors above Sharon in the same block. He was known to the police. He was the kind of offender who should have been caught.
Three doors down tells the astonishing story of Sharon Henderson’s thirty year campaign to get justice for her daughter’s killing. It shines a light on police behaviour and their treatment of working class women. It’s a personal tale of trauma and resilience in the face of systemic police failure, that couldn’t be more timely.
For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to Tortoise podcasts, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
-
Episode one - Missing
In 1992 on a council estate in Sunderland a seven year old girl is murdered. It took the police 30 years to find the killer, a convicted child sex offender who lived three doors away from where Nikki Allan went missing. What happened on the night of her disappearance?
For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app.
For early and ad-free access to all our podcasts, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
Episode two - Rumours
Rumours choke the case and a vulnerable suspect is arrested. The first 48 hours after a crime are crucial: what did the police get so wrong in the days after Nikki went missing?
For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app.
For early and ad-free access to all our podcasts, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
Episode three - Confession
The number one suspect is interrogated by police until he confesses but it's not until 30 years later that the right man is put on trial.
For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app.
For early and ad-free access to all our podcasts, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
Episode four - Conviction
Sharon's case should be extraordinary but it isn't. A few miles away from Sharon another mother was left to solve her own daughter's murder after being let down by police.
For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app.
For early and ad-free access to all our podcasts, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
Episode five - Inquiry
The police say they are not looking for any more victims of David Boyd but we met other women who were confronted by the killer. This episode contains descriptions of child sexual abuse.
This is the final episode of a 5-part series from Tortoise. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app.
For early and ad-free access to all our podcasts, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
Introducing: Three doors down
Full series available now
Three doors down: a murder, a mother and a thirty year investigation
In May in a packed room at Newcastle Crown Court, David Boyd, was found guilty of the brutal murder in 1992 of seven year-old Nikki Allan. Sharon Henderson, Nikki’s mother, called for a public inquiry into why it had taken the police so long to find and convict her daughter’s murderer.
When Nikki was murdered, Sharon was a single mother of four living in Wear Garth, a rundown housing estate in Sunderland. David Boyd lived a few floors above Sharon in the same block. He was known to the police. He was the kind of offender who should have been caught.
Three doors down tells the astonishing story of Sharon Henderson’s thirty year campaign to get justice for her daughter’s killing. It shines a light on police behaviour and their treatment of working class women. It’s a personal tale of trauma and resilience in the face of systemic police failure, that couldn’t be more timely.
For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app.
For early and ad-free access to all our podcasts, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.
If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Customer Reviews
Sharon’s tenacity 😭
I’ve never been moved to write a review before but Sharon/Mum worked so hard in the only way she could, to fight the prejudice and bias against her by the authorities, to find who murdered her little girl. Society needs to learn from this and do better…..
Absolutely relatable
Love the content within each korero,I can completely relate as I live in Australia and am a little lost as to the return home to the marae.
Thank you so much
Love it
I started listening to this on Spotify (only the first two episodes available). I listened to both and thought “oh god, how am I going to wait til the next episode comes out?!” so I listened to both episodes again! I enjoyed the journalism and appreciated the narrative and commentary so much that I thought “I’d better write a review”. I found the podcast on Apple Podcasts so I could write this review. I found the podcast on Apple Podcasts. Imagine my delight when I saw that 3 more episodes were available here!