End of Innocence: the untold stories of the victims of child killer Robert Black
Mardle Books
Works of: Non-fiction
The book focuses on the 1978 disappearance of Genette Tate. The 13-year-old schoolgirl vanished while out delivering newspapers on her bicycle in the Exeter countryside; no trace of her was ever discovered.
With new and rarely seen comments from family, police and inside the courtroom, the story links her case to the earlier abductions of April Fabb (also 13), Christine Markham (9) and Mary Boyle (6). None of these unsolved cases was assumed to be linked until 1990, when a man was apprehended having just kidnapped a six-year-old girl. That man was Robert Black, a notorious murderer about whom relatively little has been written.
The majority of Black’s victims were working-class girls, whose parents lacked the resources to mount private investigations. Genette’s disappearance was by far the most publicised, and the book uses dramatic, fictionalised descriptions based on facts and interviews to compare her case with the others. The book also spotlights the vast difference in police work/co-operation and note-sharing in the 60s and 70s.
When Black was eventually caught, he was charged with four murders and sentenced to life, though the true number of his victims was very likely far higher. Police were preparing to charge Black with Genette Tate’s abduction and murder when he died in prison in 2016.
Sub-genres
Other books by Mardle Books
The Real Ted Hastings: the true story of the copper at the heart of Line of Duty
The Notorious Guide to Britain: A fascinating tour of the weird, wonderful, murderous and marvellous
Dirty Briefs
Murder By The Sea
Top Girl
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