This is a series that sheds light on the serial killers who left their mark on the History of Britain. On 21 April 1947, Robert Black was born in Grangemouth, Stirlingshire, Scotland. He was said to be the illegitimate child of Jessie Hunter Black. she did not know who his father was. She initially planned on giving Robert up for adoption so she could emigrate to Australia to escape the shame of his birth. Unfortunately, he was not adopted but was placed with experienced foster couples in Kinlochleven named Tulip, where he adopted their surname.
Growing up, Black was said to be a target for bullying among children his age; this had its effects on him as he became an aggressive child with few friends and also became a bully towards younger children. Though his foster mother insisted upon cleanliness, he cared little for his hygiene and was called “Smelly Bobby Tulip” by his classmates.
At one point, locals recalled seeing bruises on Black’s face and limbs, suggesting his foster parents had physically abused him. When questioned, Black insisted he could not recollect the origin of the marks and bruises and suggested they may have resulted from childhood fights. Black was a chronic bed wetter and freely admitted to being admonished and beaten by his foster mother for each time he committed this offence.
As it would be, his foster parents died by 1958, and he was placed with another foster family, where he committed his first known sexual assault by dragging a young girl into a public toilet and fondling her. His foster mother reported this and demanded he is removed from her care.
Growing up, Black was placed in a mixed-sex children’s home on the outskirts of Falkirk, where he regularly exposed himself to girls, and on one occasion, he forcibly removed the underwear of a female student. As punishment, he was sent to a Red House Care Home, a high-discipline, all-male establishment in Musselburgh. At the Red House Care, Black was said to be sexually abused by a male staff member for three years, usually by being forced to perform oral sex. He studied at Musselburgh Grammar School, developing an interest in football and swimming.
Black, fortunately, was able to leave the Red House in 1963 with the assistance of Child Welfare agencies. He soon moved into another boys’ home, where he got a job as a butcher’s delivery boy. In his confessions, he said he caressed between thirty to forty girls while making deliveries, and none seemed to have reported.
However, Black’s first murder was that of nine-year-old Jennifer Cardy, who was abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered on 12 August 1981. Cardy was said to be cycling to a friend’s house and was last seen by her mother at 1:40 p.m. Unfortunately, she never arrived at her friend’s house. A search party consisting of about 200 volunteers searched and found nothing except her bicycle, and two days later, her body was found in a reservoir. An autopsy suggested she died by drowning or, most likely, a lace strangling. That was just the beginning of Black’s killing spree.
On 14 July 1990, Black was arrested after David Herkes, a 53-year-old man, witnessed what would be a kidnap of his neighbour’s six-year-old daughter. He quickly registered the van plate number and informed her parents, who immediately called to police. Black was arrested and admitted to sexually assaulting the girl. A further search into the van, they found assorted ropes, sticking plaster, and hoods; a Polaroid camera, numerous articles of girls’ clothing, a mattress and a selection of sexual aids. After further investigation and research, Black was found guilty of three child murders in 1994 and failed abductions.
Black was sentenced to life imprisonment. There, he died of heart disease in Northern Ireland’s Maghaberry Prison in 2016.
