Netflix Just Released a Harrowing True Crime Documentary About a Child Serial Killer Who Evaded Capture for Nearly a Decade
Netflix Just Released a Harrowing True Crime Documentary About a Child Serial Killer Who Evaded Capture for Nearly a Decade
A âharrowingâ true crime series has been dropped on Netflix but itâs not one for the faint hearted.
Manhunt: The Child Snatcher originally aired on Channel 5 back in 2023 but it has now caught the attention of a whole new audience following its Netflix release on Monday, February 23.
Scottish-born serial killer Robert Black is known to have kidnapped and murdered four young girls during the 1980s while he was working as a delivery driver for a London-based poster company.
It was thanks to his job that he was able to kidnap children in his van and transport them hundreds of miles away from their homes where he would leave their bodies.
He was at the heart of a UK-wide manhunt for nine years because his job meant he could travel to various police jurisdictions to avoid detection.
Child serial killer Robert Black. (Image: PA/PSNI)
Black was responsible for the deaths of Jennifer Cardy, nine, Susan Maxwell, 11, Caroline Hogg, five, and Sarah Harper 10.
The two-part series gives a âharrowingâ insight into how he was able to get away with committing the crimes and how Black was eventually caught.
Its official synopsis reads: âVictimsâ families and police recount their nightmarish memories of the years-long hunt across the UK to arrest serial killer Robert Black.â
Black was 43-years-old when he was witnessed in Stow, Scotland, in 1990, by a member of the public trying to abduct a six-year-old girl but thankfully she was rescued.
He was subsequently arrested and convicted of three of the four known murders in 1994.
 Child serial killer Robert Black after he was found guilty at Newcastle Crown Court.(Image: PA/JOHN GILES)
It wasnât until 2011 that Black was convicted of the murder of Jennifer Cardy in 1981 which means he was technically able to avoid justice for that crime for 30 years.
He was given life sentences for the murders of the other three girls and then was to serve at least 25 years for the murder of Cardy.
In 2016, Black died at the age of 68 in Maghaberry Prison near Lisburn, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
The BBC reported at the time that Devon Police were just weeks away from charging Black with the murder of 13-year-old Genette Tate.
Manhunt: The Child Snatcher is available to watch on Netflix.
Black was responsible for the deaths of Jennifer Cardy, nine, Susan Maxwell, 11, Caroline Hogg, five, and Sarah Harper 10.
The two-part series gives a âharrowingâ insight into how he was able to get away with committing the crimes and how Black was eventually caught.
Its official synopsis reads: âVictimsâ families and police recount their nightmarish memories of the years-long hunt across the UK to arrest serial killer Robert Black.â
Black was 43-years-old when he was witnessed in Stow, Scotland, in 1990, by a member of the public trying to abduct a six-year-old girl but thankfully she was rescued.
He was subsequently arrested and convicted of three of the four known murders in 1994.
 Child serial killer Robert Black after he was found guilty at Newcastle Crown Court.(Image: PA/JOHN GILES)
It wasnât until 2011 that Black was convicted of the murder of Jennifer Cardy in 1981 which means he was technically able to avoid justice for that crime for 30 years.
He was given life sentences for the murders of the other three girls and then was to serve at least 25 years for the murder of Cardy.
In 2016, Black died at the age of 68 in Maghaberry Prison near Lisburn, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
The BBC reported at the time that Devon Police were just weeks away from charging Black with the murder of 13-year-old Genette Tate.
Manhunt: The Child Snatcher is available to watch on Netflix.