Man 'used road near where body of Antrim girl found'

A Scottish van driver accused of murdering a schoolgirl told police he often used the stretch of road off which her body was found, his trial has heard.

London-based dispatch driver Robert Black, now aged 64, also said he once tried to sleep in a lay-by on the northbound side of the A1 dual carriageway between Newry and Lisburn in the North.

The body of nine-year-old Jennifer Cardy was found floating in a dam behind a lay-by on the same road on August 18 1981, six days after she was abducted 10 miles away while cycling to a friend's house in the village of Ballinderry, Co Antrim.

The sixth day of Black's trial at Armagh Crown Court heard the answers he gave to detectives when first questioned about the murder in 1996.

When shown a picture of the lay-by behind which Jennifer was discovered, Black told police it was not the one he stopped at.

The prosecution has claimed there was only one lay-by on this stretch of road in 1981.

Black denies charges of kidnap and murder.

The Crown has been attempting to prove that the defendant was in the North on the day Jennifer vanished doing a series of deliveries for his north London company - the now defunct Poster, Dispatch and Storage Ltd (PDS).

With Black listening from the dock, Crown lawyer Donna McColgan and Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Detective Sergeant Patrick McAnespie read the transcripts of his interview with police 15 years ago.

Jennifer's parents Andy and Patricia and her younger sister Victoria watched the exchanges from the public gallery.

Black had been asked how often he did the run to Ireland.

"Often enough," he replied to officers. "Quite a few times actually, I couldn't put a number on it."

He said he was one of two or three PDS drivers who did the trip because other colleagues in the firm disliked it.

"I think they were a bit scared about the Troubles," he said.

Black then described how a usual trip to the North involved drops in Belfast, Dunmurry on the outskirts of the city and then Newry near the Irish border.

Jennifer's body was found floating face down in water known as McKee's dam behind an A1 lay-by near Hillsborough, Co Down.

Black told officers that when doing his deliveries he would usually take the M1 motorway from Belfast to Lisburn where he would get on the A1 running to Newry.

He said he regularly used a BP service station at the start of the A1 between Lisburn and Hillsborough.

Black said he once parked up at a lay-by opposite the garage with the intention of sleeping there for the night. But he said he was quickly moved on by the security forces.

"As far as I can remember it was virtually opposite the BP garage," he said.

The lay-by beside where Jennifer was found is two miles further down the A1 toward Newry on the same side of the carriageway.

Detectives showed him a picture of that lay-by during the interview in 1996 but he denied that was the one he once stopped at.

"No I don't think so," he said.

"I think the one I was stopped in that night was a bit smaller."

The trial has already heard the Crown assert that road ordnance maps from 1981 indicate there was only one lay-by on that northbound stretch of the A1.

The prosecution claim Black finished his deliveries in Newry before lunch on the day Jennifer was snatched and, with hours on his hands before his evening ferry back to Liverpool from Belfast, explored the countryside off the A1.

It is then, they allege, he kidnapped Jennifer as she cycled along a quiet country road.

In 1996 police asked Black if he was often left with "time to kill" after he had finished his drops.

"I would have all afternoon and early evening to kill," he replied.

He claimed he would either go to a swimming pool in Belfast or hang out in the bar at the ferry terminal, playing pool or watching TV.

The Crown are trying to prove that PDS needed to do a delivery in Northern Ireland around the time of the murder - claiming the firm had to get posters to clients ahead of the launch of new ad campaigns at the start of September 1981.

Today the trial also heard evidence from two former PDS employees.

Black's defence counsel David Spens QC put it to one-time PDS office administrator David Williams that loads were often delivered much later in the month.

The lawyer asked Mr Williams if his boss liked to wait as long as he could to ensure as much was loaded on the van as possible.

"Rather than send a van that was less than full up to brim, he would delay as long as he could?," asked Mr Spens.

Mr Williams said: "Yes, it could be two weeks, could be a week prior to posting (on September 1) or it could be days.

"There were weeks he (his boss) would perhaps leave it longer than he should have done."

Senior Crown counsel Toby Hedworth QC said Mr Williams had been paid what appeared to be a series of overtime payments in July and August 1981.

"Does that suggest that in July and August 1981 that PDS were pretty busy?" he asked.

Mr Williams responded: "It could well have been but I just can't remember that period of time."

Former PDS executive Eric Mould was questioned about posters the company delivered to Northern Ireland in August 1981 specifically for the side of buses.

Mr Mould said they had to be delivered by the middle of the month because it was more of a logistical effort to post them on to the vehicles than billboard sites.

Mr Spens suggested the reality on the ground often saw deliveries being made later in the month.

He also questioned how much time it would take to fix the posters to the buses, indicating it could be done during the night as the buses did not run 24 hours a day and would be parked.

The Crown case against Black asserts that a proof-of-purchase fuel docket signed by him shows he was in the North on the day in question.

It contends that the only journey Black could have been making when he stopped for fuel in Coventry the next day, August 13, was from the docks at Liverpool, having taken the overnight ferry from Belfast.

Mr Hedworth asked Mr Mould whether he thought Black bought the fuel on an outward trip from London or on a return journey to the capital.

"A return fuelling," he said.

The case continues.