The dad of missing schoolgirl Genette Tate has died – without ever discovering her fate.
Genette, 13, vanished on her newspaper round in her home village on August 19, 1978.
Her disappearance sparked the biggest missing persons inquiry launched by British police – but her remains have never been found.
For four decades dad John, 77, tried to learn what had happened to Genette, who vanished from Aylesbeare near Exeter, Devon.
John, who was living in Manchester, had suffered a major stroke that left him needing care.
He was diabetic, had muscle disorder McArdle disease, prostate cancer and used a wheelchair.
A final picture taken of him showed him lying in bed barely able to speak.
Devon and Cornwall Police held a cold case probe into the murder several years ago and their “only suspect” was Scottish serial killer Robert Black.
They had been days away from charging him when he died in an Irish jail where he was serving a life term for child murder.
John, in his last main interview in 2018, said: “My life is coming to an end. I dearly want to know where Ginny is.
"To know she has been found and given a Christian burial would be enough.
“I could go to my grave in the knowledge we were together again.
"I’m not 100% sure Black did it. If we could find her body that would give me proof.”
