Rikki Neave murder trial hears of 'surprise attack' in Peterborough

Rikki Neave, six, was found strangled and naked in woodland in Peterborough in 1994

The murder of a six-year-old boy has gone unsolved for more than 25 years because of a "fundamental error" in the investigation, a court heard.

Rikki Neave was found dead in woodland near his home in Peterborough the day after he was reported missing in 1994.

James Watson, who was 13 at the time, is standing trial and denies murder.

Prosecutors said incorrect weight was given to sightings of Rikki at the trial in 1996 when his mother was found not guilty of his murder.

Rikki had been strangled and his clothes dumped in a nearby bin, the latest trial at the Old Bailey in London was told.

The court heard that Mr Watson, now 40, had allegedly launched a "surprise attack" on Rikki and strangled him with his own jacket on 28 November.

He went on to develop a "grotesque" interest in child murder, jurors were told.

The court heard that the boy's mother Ruth Neave stood trial for her son's murder in 1996, but was found not guilty by a jury at Northampton Crown Court.

She was jailed after admitting child cruelty.

James Watson, 40, is accused of the murder of Rikki Neave almost 28 years ago

At the beginning of the trial, jurors were played a recording of Ms Neave's 999 call to report her son missing on the evening of 28 November 1994.

The next day, Rikki's body was found by a police officer in woodland, a five-minute walk from his home on the Welland estate.

Prosecutor John Price QC said: "He had been strangled. The body was naked. It was lying on the ground, flat on its back.

"It had been deliberately posed by the killer, in a star shape, with outstretched arms, and his legs placed wide apart."

A small, white shirt button was found on a leaf nearby, he said.

The woodland close to Rikki's home where his body was found in November 1994

Mr Price suggested that during the prosecution of Ms Neave, incorrect weight was given to sightings of Rikki, at a time when reliable evidence showed he was already dead.

"This fundamental error deflected the focus of attention of the investigation," he said.

"It took it away from where it should have been."

A cold case investigation was opened in 2015, jurors heard.

Adhesive tapings from Rikki's clothes were examined and a DNA match to Mr Watson was allegedly made.

Mr Price said evidence showed Rikki had walked willingly into the woods where he was subjected to a "surprise attack" from behind.

The child's murder in 1994 prompted an extensive police investigation

The court heard how Rikki was known to Cambridgeshire social services as a vulnerable child and was on the "at risk register".

Mr Watson, whose father lived on the same estate, was in care and playing truant from school when he was spotted playing with Rikki on the day of the killing, jurors heard.

In his police interview in December 1994, he admitted being in Rotherby Grove with the young child, saying they exchanged a few words.

Mr Price claimed the defendant had lied to police about the timing of their encounter.

The prosecuting counsel told jurors: "He knew it had been earlier. He was indeed still with Rikki at 12.30.

"By then, Rikki Neave was almost certainly already dead, and James Watson was still in the wood, keeping company with a child's corpse."

The trial continues.