The father of Genette Tate, the Devon schoolgirl who disappeared without trace almost 42 years ago, has died.

Genette vanished while delivering newspapers near her home in Aylesbeare on August 19, 1978.

Her disappearance sparked one of the largest missing person hunts the county had ever seen.

Devon and Cornwall police later said the incident was being treated as a murder inquiry - but Genette's remains have never been found.

John Tate became a prominent figure in the search, fronting repeated public appeals to find his missing daughter.

Genette Tate
Genette Tate

He has now died at the age of 77 after suffering years of ill health.

John, who was living in Manchester, suffered a major stroke that left him very weak and needing care.

He was also diabetic, had McArdle’s disease, prostate cancer and was confined to a wheelchair.

John Tate
John Tate

A final picture taken off him showed him lying in bed at home, weak and barely able to speak.

Devon and Cornwall Police held a cold case investigation into Genette's murder several years ago and their 'only suspect' was Scottish serial killer Robert Black.

And detectives had been days away from charging Black with her murder when he collapsed and died in an Irish jail - where he was serving a life sentence for another child murder he had committed.

Police met John Tate in 2016 and gave him details from their 500 page dossier on why they believed Black was the killer.

Robert Black
Robert Black

But John Tate was never 100 per cent convinced that Black was the man who had snuffed out his daughter's life.

In his last main interview in 2018, he said: "My life is coming to an end. I dearly want to know where Ginny is.

"Just to know that she has been found and given a Christian burial would be enough.

"I could go to my grave in the knowledge that we were together again.

"There is no closure. We will probably never have closure, especially now the only suspect is dead.

"I am not 100 per cent sure Black did it. But if he didn't do it means there is another killer still on the loose.

"I suppose I just don't want to accept she is dead. But I need proof that Black killed her.

"If we could just find her body that would give me the proof I need."

Genette Tate shortly before she disappeared with father John
Genette Tate shortly before she disappeared with father John

Mr Tate wrote to Black when he was serving time in Wakefield Jail for murdering three young girls, asking him to meet him and tell him if he was responsible for Genette's abduction and murder.

He said: "He was a control freak, a bastard who ruined so many lives and snuffed out the lives of so many children.

"I wonder if we will ever know the true number of girls he murdered."

Mr Tate died in a Manchester hospital late last month.

An Exeter based friend of Mr Tate said: "It is very sad that John and Genette's mother have never had that closure. All John wanted was an answer to where his daughter's remains were.

"It seems now as if the killer's identity will never really be known and John spent more than half his life agonising over what happened to Genette on that Saturday afternoon all those years ago near her home."