Lisburn, Northern Ireland – Robert Black, a delivery driver, was found guilty of the murders of four children across the UK after being arrested in 1990. The case of the serial killer, known as The Child Snatcher, is the subject of the documentary Manhunt on Channel 5, which details one of the largest police investigations in the UK as detectives from multiple forces attempted to connect the dots between the string of murders that occurred across the country.
Black’s modus operandi involved traveling the country in his van to abduct his victims, allowing him to evade capture for many years. He was found guilty of three child murders in 1994, including those of 11-year-old Susan Maxwell, 5-year-old Caroline Hogg, and 10-year-old Sarah Harper.
Additionally, Black was found guilty of a failed abduction attempt in 1988 and the murder of nine-year-old Jennifer Cardy from Ballinderry, Northern Ireland in 2011. He is also suspected of involvement in other killings and unexplained disappearances.
Robert Black died of heart disease in Northern Ireland’s Maghaberry Prison in 2016 at the age of 68, where he was serving a life sentence for his crimes. He suffered a stroke in 1996, two years into his sentence for the murders of Maxwell, Hogg, and Harper.