By Emily Caulkett-
A man has been found guilty of murdering a six-year-old schoolboy more than 27 years ago. Rikki Neave disappeared on 28 November 1994 and his body was found in woods near his Peterborough home the following day.
A jury deliberated for 36 hours and 31 minutes before convicting 41-year-old James Watson(pictured) by a majority verdict of 10 to two following an 11-week trial at the Old Bailey.
Rikki Neave disappeared on 28 November 1994 and his body was found in woods near his Peterborough home the following day.
James Watson, who was 13 at the time of Rikki’s death, was found guilty by jurors at the Old Bailey in London. He had strangled and his naked body deliberately posed in a star shape by his killer.
Rikki’s sister Rochelle Neave, 30, hailed the verdict as a “victory” for the family who had campaigned for justice. She said, “He thought he’d got away with it for many years and believed we were just going to go away and roll under the table – we weren’t.”
She remembered her brother as a “cheeky” and “loving” boy, who would look after his siblings. Youngest sister Sheradyn Neave, 27, who was a baby when Rikki died, added, “I think we were let down by the police at the time, we were let down by social services, we were let down by everyone who was in our lives who was meant to care.”
He was the second person to stand trial for Rikki’s murder, after the boy’s mother Ruth Neave was cleared by a jury in 1996.
The verdict comes as welcome news for Rikki’s mother Ruth Neave, who was cleared of killing her son in 1996. Watson was 13 when he lured six-year-old Rikki to woods near his home in Peterborough on November 28 1994.
He strangled the boy from behind with a ligature or anorak collar to fulfil a “morbid fantasy” he had told his mother about three days before. He stripped Rikki and posed his naked body in a star shape for sexual gratification, deliberately “exhibiting” him near a children’s woodland den, jurors were told.
Rikki was reported missing that evening by Ms Neave and found the next day. Watson obsessed over newspaper coverage of the killing, copying front page stories at school.
Watson was convicted after jurors were given a majority verdict direction by judge Mrs Justice McGowan. They deliberated for 36 hours and 31 minutes following the 11-week trial.Ms Neave described her son’s murderer as a “monster”, criticized the original investigation and said police and social services “totally ruined mine and my daughters’ lives”.
The next month, he was interviewed as a witness by police after an elderly resident reported seeing him with Rikki on the nearby Welland Estate. His lying account was unchallenged as police wrongly focused on a theory Ms Neave killed her son and used a buggy to dump his body.
Mystery of Ricky Neave’s dead finally solved after 27 years
In a statement, she said: “The only thing now is to close this chapter in my life and open a new one.
“I wonder what Rikki would be like today, married, children? Who knows?
“But this monster has taken that all from me and my daughters.” A cold case investigation into Rikki’s murder was opened in 2015.
Adhesive tapings from his clothes were examined and a DNA match to Watson was made.
Watson claimed he may have lifted Rikki to help him see over a fence, but police found archive TV footage showing there was no fence at the time.
Jurors heard Watson strangled his victim with a ligature or anorak collar to fulfil a “morbid fantasy” he had told his mother about three days before.
He stripped Rikki and posed his naked body in a star shape for sexual gratification, the court heard.
Watson was interviewed as a witness by police in 1994 after an elderly resident reported seeing him with Rikki. Prosecutors felt there was still insufficient evidence but reversed their decision after Ms Neave and Rikki’s sisters called for a victims’ right to review. Key evidence included Rikki’s last meal of Weetabix, which fixed his time of death at around noon.
It meant Rikki was killed shortly after being seen with Watson heading to the woods where he used to play. Rikki’s muddy Clarks shoes also indicated his walk into the woods was a one-way trip.
The prosecution claimed it was no coincidence that, three days before the murder, Watson had made up having heard a radio report about a two-year-old boy being strangled and discussed it with his mother. Watson’s sexual interest in younger boys was also known to police, who interviewed him over an allegation he molested a five-year-old in 1993.
More disturbing behaviour was noted at Watson’s children’s home, the court heard.
An ex-girlfriend revealed he had strangled her during sex in woods and killed a bird and spread its wings in a sinister reconstruction of Rikki’s murder. In a police interview in 2016, Watson attempted to explain his DNA’s presence on Rikki’s clothes by claiming he picked him up to look at diggers through a hole in a fence.
Police had previously interviewed Watson over an allegation he molested a five-year-old in 1993.A former girlfriend also told jurors he put his hands around her throat during sex.
While on bail following his arrest in 2016, Watson left the UK in a motorhome via the Dover ferry port with another bail hostel resident.
He contacted his sister from France and she told the trial that Watson said he “was in a lot of trouble and he had made a huge mistake”.
Watson was re-arrested near the British Embassy in Lisbon and was brought back to the UK.