Exclusive: Child murderer Raymond Morris tried to kill me

Julie Taylor was just eight years old when she was lured into the murderer's car after he pretended to be a relative on December 2, 1964.

He sexually assaulted and viciously attacked her, before dumping her on land in Bentley Lane, Willenhall on the freezing winter night.

Morris may have thought he'd just killed his first victim – but Julie was still alive and hours later her wimpering was heard by a passing cyclist.

Three years later he went on to kill Christine Darby, seven, and was the prime suspect in the murders of five-year-old Diane Tift and Margaret Reynolds, six.

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Now 58, Julie is a married mother of two who earlier this week was informed that her attacker had died in prison aged 84.

Speaking exclusively to the Express & Star, she said: "He left me for dead and I'm lucky to be alive.

"But he doesn't deserve a burial and I hope he rots in hell because he is the devil himself."

And she revealed that she had asked if she could visit Morris in prison – but he turned down her request. "I wanted to ask him why he did those crimes," she said. "I wanted answers to my questions and now they will never be answered."

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Twice-married engineer Morris was linked to the assault on Julie but was never convicted of the offence.

He managed to evade detection until after he raped and murdered Walsall schoolgirl Christine in 1967. He spent 45 years in jail after being given a life sentence, but was never convicted of killing Diane of Blakenall, Walsall, and Margaret, of Aston, Birmingham, who vanished in 1965. Their cases were kept on Morris's file.

All three had been sexually assaulted and strangled and their bodies found dumped within miles of each other near the A34 on Cannock Chase in 1966 and 1967.