It took 27 years for James Watson to finally be convicted for the murder of Rikki Neave – but how did it take police so long to catch him?
And where is James Watson now?
Rikki Neave was just six years old when he was strangled to death near his home in Peterborough in 1994.
Here’s a look at what happened to schoolboy Rikki Neave, and why James Watson murdered him in cold blood.
***Warning: contains distressing details about Rikki Neave’s murder***
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Who was Rikki Neave?
Rikki Neave was born in 1989.
He was a schoolboy who attended Welland County Primary School in Peterborough.
Sadly, the young lad was known to Cambridgeshire social services as a vulnerable child.
He was on the county’s Child Protection Register.
Social services considered Rikki at risk and he often played truant from school.
After his death, his half-sister Rochelle Neave remembered him as a “loving and caring” boy.
Rochelle, who was three at the time of Rikki’s murder, said their early life together was hard.
She said that Rikki was sometimes forced to steal food from the local shop as there was no food in the house.
She said: “He would sometimes go to the shop, nick it and come back and feed us.”
At the time of his death, Rikki lived with his mother Ruth and two of his three sisters on the Welland Estate in Peterborough.
Rikki’s father, Trevor Harvey, had ended his relationship with Ruth when his son was three.
What happened to Rikki Neave?
Six-year-old Rikki Neave disappeared on Monday November 28 1994.
He was last seen leaving for school at around 9am from his home in Redmile Walk, Welland.
Rikki was wearing his school uniform – grey trousers, a white shirt, black shoes and a blue coat.
A day later, his body was discovered dead in undergrowth.
His corpse had been left in a wooded area off Eye Road, close to Willoughby Court.
It was just five minutes away from his home in Welland Estate.
In a sickening twist, the body of Rikki Neave was found naked and posed star-shaped with his arms outstretched and legs wide apart.
He had been strangled.
The crime took place just two years after the murder of James Bulger in 1993, in which the murderers were also minors.
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Why did police suspect Rikki Neave’s mum Ruth?
The police first suspected Rikki’s mother, Ruth.
Officers eventually charged her with her son’s murder.
Unfortunately, Ruth was already known to Cambridgeshire social services.
Rikki was considered a vulnerable child.
At the age of six, he was already truanting from school, and stealing from shops – albeit to feed himself and his siblings.
The police believed Ruth had been violent with her son on more than one occasion.
During Ruth’s murder trial in 1996, the jury heard how she had threatened to kill her son.
She had also scrawled “idiot” across his forehead and squirted washing-up liquid in his mouth.
Ruth was subsequently cleared of murdering Rikki.
Why did Rikki Neave’s mum Ruth go to jail?
Although Ruth was found not guilty of murdering her son, a judge jailed her for seven years for child cruelty.
Ruth admitted neglect.
However, she later revealed she’d been “bullied’ into confessing she’d been cruel to her son.
She spent most of the seven years in jail.
Ruth was released in 2000.
At the tine, many still believed she was guilty of the murder of her son.
Who killed Rikki Neave?
James Watson murdered Rikki Neave.
However, he walked free for 27 years until police finally captured him.
James had been a name which cropped up during the original 1994 investigation.
Witnesses told police they had spotted James Watson playing with Rikki on the day of the killing.
But, at the time, James told police he had “never been anywhere near Rikki Neave”.
James was 13 at the time.
Why did it take so long to catch James Watson?
It took nearly three decades to bring the killer to justice, but why?
It’s now widely accepted that police missed a number of significant leads.
However, Rikki’s mum Ruth relentlessly sought to keep attention on Rikki’s case.
In 2014, Ruth met Mr Fullwood, the head of the local major crime unit, at Parkside Police Station in Cambridge.
He has since said: “When I listened to the family’s evidence and saw the reviews that the police had done beforehand, for me there were a number of lines of inquiry which were outstanding.
“There were a number of opportunities that had been missed in my view.”
Mr Fullwood organised a cold case investigation with a team of new staff NOT involved in the original investigation.
The team discovered major errors in the original investigation.
For example, the wheelie bin in which Rikki’s school uniform were found had been lost.
There appeared to be no record of it ever having been forensically examined.
How did they finally catch James Watson?
The cold case team, led by Mr Fullwood, eventually had a “stroke of luck” when they found something crucial in the forensic archives.
The team came across an envelope containing samples of Rikki’s clothing.
They also found DNA linked to James Watson.
Back in 1994, sticky tape – yes really! – was used to collect fibres from clothing.
The police were able to track James down and question him again – which is when he changed his story.
James had originally said he hadn’t seen Rikki on the day of his disappearance.
However, faced with the DNA evidence, James said he might have lifted Rikki up in the air to help him see building work over a fence.
When the police investigated his claim, footage of the area in 1994 showed the estate did not have a fence at that time.
Mr Fullwood said: “So we were able to prove that James Watson was an absolute liar and a fantasist.”
Further investigation showed that James had a history of inappropriate sexual behaviour.
He had molested a five-year-old when he was about 11 or 12.
A previous partner had also complained about him strangling her during sex.
Meanwhile, his school teachers at the time revealed that James Watson had photocopied the front page of the Peterborough Evening Telegraph the day after Rikki’s death.
“This is somebody who showed an unnatural interest in the events – not something that an average 13-year-old boy would do,” Mr Fullwood said.
The police also had disturbing evidence to show that James had killed a bird and laid it out spread-eagled in a manner similar to how Rikki Neave’s body was laid.
Why did James Watson kill Rikki Neave?
James Watson has not revealed his motives for killing Rikki Neave.
Mr Fullwood believes the motivation for the killing could have been sexual – although there were no signs of a sexual assault.
He said: “The murderer strangled Rikki, stripped his clothes and laid him out in this particular pose.
“We believe that is for sexual gratification and we believe James Watson did that.”
During the 2022 trial, the prosecution said James lured Rikki Neave to the woods near his home in Peterborough and strangled him 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.
When was James Watson arrested?
Police arrested James Watson on suspicion of murder in April 2016.
By that time, James was known to police as a serial offender with a criminal record.
Crimes included an arson attack at a British Transport Police police station in 2008.
Three months after his arrest, he fled the UK in a motorhome and travelled to Rotterdam, France and Portugal.
From France he contacted his sister, Clair Perna, and told her he “was in a lot of trouble and he had made a huge mistake”.
Police eventually re-arrested James Watson near the British embassy in Lisbon.
Although prosecutors felt there was not enough evidence to charge him with Rikki’s murder, the decision was overturned after Rikki’s family lodged an appeal under the Victims’ Right to Review (VRR) scheme.
Where is James Watson now and how old is he?
James Watson is now 41 years old.
After a trial, James Watson was found him guilty of the murder of the schoolboy Rikki Neave nearly 28 years after the crime.
The jury deliberated for 36 hours and 31 minutes to convict James Watson by a majority of 10 to two after an 11-week trial in 2022.
The judge, Mrs Justice McGowan, said James Watson would be sentenced as if he were a teenager.
That means he will receive a life sentence but the starting point for the minimum term will be 12 years.
The defendant was not in court but watched the verdict on a video link.
Sentencing will take place on 9 May at the same court.
Where is Rikki Neave’s mum now?
Mrs Neave was released from prison 14 years ago after serving most of a seven-year sentence.
She lives quietly in a small Cambridgeshire flat with her husband Gary (not Rikki’s dad).
Ruth has spoken publicly about the injustice of being accused of Rikki’s murder.
Rikki’s mum has since expressed her regret over being high on drugs when her son was murdered.
However, her daughter Rochelle is unable to forgive Ruth.
Rochelle recently told the Mail Online: “Even though she didn’t strangle him, she still let a six-year-old on the streets alone and she neglected him.
“All she was interested in was drugs and men and drink.
“I can’t stand her. I can’t even look at her.
“The things that she’s put us through and our poor brother, how he’s been treated, how he was murdered.”
24 Hours in Police Custody: The Murder of Rikki Neave on C4
A two-part special of this award-winning documentary explores the largest ever unsolved murder case in the history of Cambridgeshire Police.
The murder of six-year-old Rikki Neave from Peterborough in 1994 went unsolved for decades.
Police first suspected his mother, as a result of his abusive home life – and neighbours were quick to point the finger.
Although his mum Ruth went to jail for neglect, she did not kill her son.
This details how murderer James Watson was eventually found, thanks to dogged police work and new advances in technology.
Viewers may find images of Rikki’s dead body – although pixelated – disturbing.
24 Hours in Police Custody: The Murder of Rikki Neave airs on C4 at 9pm on Monday July 04 2022.
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