The mother of one of Robert Black's victims has revealed her regret at never meeting the serial killer in a bid to get him to confess to more murders.
Patricia Cardy's nine-year-old daughter Jennifer was abducted and murdered by Black near her home in County Antrim in 1981.
The killer, who was already serving life for killing three young girls, was sentenced to 25 years in 2011 for Jennifer's murder and died in prison aged 68 in January 2016.
In a new book detailing her family's 30-year fight for justice, Mrs Cardy says she believes Black, originally from Grangemouth, Stirlingshire, may have been responsible for up to 12 more murders.
He is the prime suspect in the disappearance of 13-year-old Genette Tate, who went missing on her paper round in a Devon village on August 19, 1978. Her body has never been found.
Mrs Cardy, 73, said her heart goes out to other families who have been denied justice and said she wanted to talk to Black before his death to appeal to him to end their suffering.
In the book, called There Came A Day, she writes: "Robert Black had plunged many defenceless children to early deaths before having to await his own appointment with death in a prison hospital.
"For our family it was an unexpected phone call on the 12th January 2016: Black had just died in prison of natural causes. Whether we like it or not, God makes His own agenda.
"My heart immediately ached for a family in England whom I knew would be suffering more painful consequences of this man's death.
"In August 1978, 13-year-old Genette Tate was abducted. Little did we then know that we were to face the same trauma.
"While there are striking similarities in the two disappearances, one major difference remains: Genette's body has never been recovered. Her case has become the longest unsolved child disappearance in British history."
Mrs Cardy said she had rehearsed what she wanted to say to Black if he agreed to a face-to-face meeting with her.
She added: "Like Genette Tate's father, I shared a deep desire to speak with Robert Black, though wondering if, given the opportunity, I would have the guts to do it.
"I will never know. Nevertheless, I wanted to ask him one thing, and I rehearsed the words again, 'Robert, you have done little that has been good in your life. This is one good thing only you can do. You alone can and must tell grieving parents where each of their daughters' bodies lie. You know where you have hidden them. This is one good thing only you can do ` perhaps, the only good thing you will ever do'.
"This was to be my plea, my personal and heartfelt plea to Robert Black. How I wish I had got the chance to do so.
"All these years, and with every other recorded murder of other little girls since Jennifer, my heart dies another death.
"The body of Jennifer was discovered, returned to her beloved family, and given a proper, worthy internment.
"There are yet at least 10, perhaps 12, undiscovered bodies of little girls across the UK, Ireland and continental Europe, which bear the hallmarks of Robert Black.
"None shall carry, due to his death, the finality each saddened family has longed to see.
"The terrible blight upon such parents is one with which so very few can identify. It has caused incredible pain, and to such parents no reunion in this life will ever come.
"Neither can there come a day when they will know anything of the final hours of their little children."
Van driver Black stopped Jennifer before she reached a friend's house. He abducted her, then sexually assaulted and killed her before dumping her body.
In 1982, he abducted and murdered 11-year-old Susan Maxwell from the village of Cornhill-on-Tweed, close to the border between Scotland and England.
A year later, he killed five-year-old Caroline Hogg, who disappeared from outside her home in Portobello, near Edinburgh.
A third girl, 10-year-old Sarah Harper, was abducted and murdered as she walked from a corner shop near her home in Morley, Leeds.
There Came A Day will be published on July 18 and will be available to buy online.
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