Robert Black (serial killer)

Robert Black (21 April 1947 – 12 January 2016) was a Scottish serial killer and paedophile who was convicted of the kidnap, rape and murder of four girls aged between 5 and 11 in a series of crimes committed between 1981 and 1986 in the United Kingdom.

Robert Black was born in Grangemouth, Stirlingshire, on 21 April 1947, the illegitimate child of Jessie Hunter Black and an unknown father.

His mother originally planned to have him adopted before she emigrated to Australia to escape the stigma of his birth.

He was not adopted, and at six months old was placed with an experienced, middle-aged foster couple in Kinlochleven named Jack and Margaret Tulip.

He adopted their surname until his foster mother's death.

Black showed antisocial tendencies and became known as an aggressive child with few friends.

He was prone to tantrums and vandalised school property.

He was also a target for bullying among children his own age, and became a bully towards younger children.

Though his foster mother insisted upon cleanliness, he cared little for his own hygiene and was called "Smelly Bobby Tulip" by classmates.

At the age of five, Black and a girl the same age compared their genitalia, triggering a childhood belief within Black that he should have been born female, and he developed a deep interest in his genitalia, the genitals of female children, and body orifices.

From the age of eight he would regularly insert objects in his own anus, a practice he carried into adulthood.

Locals later recalled seeing bruises on Black's face and limbs, suggesting he had been physically abused by his foster parents.

Black stated he could not recollect their origin, and they may have resulted from childhood fights.

Despite being adamant he could not recall the origin of these bruises, Black was a chronic bed wetter, and freely admitted to being berated and beaten by his foster mother for each offence.

By 1958, the Tulips had both died, and Black was placed with another foster family in Kinlochleven.

He soon committed his first known sexual assault, dragging a young girl into a public lavatory and fondling her.

His foster mother reported the offence and insisted he be removed from her home.

Black was placed in a mixed-sex children's home on the outskirts of Falkirk.

Here he regularly exposed himself to girls, and on one occasion, he forcibly removed the underwear of a girl.

As a result, he was sent to Red House Care Home, a high-discipline, all-male establishment in Musselburgh where he was listed as Boy Number 28.

At this location, Black was sexually abused by a male staff member for three years; typically by being forced to perform fellatio.

During this time, he studied at Musselburgh Grammar School, developing an interest in football and swimming.

Other students recall him as taciturn, with few friends.

In 1963, Black left the Red House Care Home.

With assistance from child welfare agencies, he moved to another boys' home in Greenock and obtained a job as a butcher's delivery boy.

He later said that he had fondled thirty to forty young girls while making deliveries if, upon calling at the house, he discovered young girls were alone in the premises.

None of these incidents seem to have been reported.

On a summer evening in 1963, Black encountered a seven-year-old girl playing alone in a local park; he lured the child to a deserted air-raid shelter on the pretext of showing her some kittens.

There he held the girl by the throat until she lost consciousness, then masturbated over her body.

The following day, Black was arrested and charged with lewd and libidinous behaviour.

A psychiatric examination suggested the incident was an isolated one, and that Black was not in need of treatment; as a result he was admonished for the offence.

Shortly after, Black moved to Grangemouth, where he lodged with an elderly couple and worked for a builders' supply company.

Black may also have been responsible for several other unsolved child murders throughout Britain, Ireland, and continental Europe between 1969 and 1987.

The nationwide manhunt for Black was one of the most exhaustive UK murder investigations of the 20th century.

Black was convicted of the kidnapping, rape, and murder of three girls on 19 May 1994.

He was also convicted of the kidnapping of a fourth girl and had earlier been convicted of the kidnapping and sexual assault of a fifth.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a recommendation that he serve a minimum of 35 years.

In 2011, Black was further convicted of the 1981 sexual assault and murder of nine-year-old Jennifer Cardy.

At the time of his death in 2016, he was regarded as the prime suspect in the 1978 disappearance and murder of 13-year-old Genette Tate.

He died of a heart attack at HMP Maghaberry in 2016 aged 68.