Rikki Neave murder trail: Witness saw boy with defendant

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

A witness has told a murder trial she saw a six-year-old boy with the teenager accused of killing him on the day he died 27 years ago.

Rikki Neave's naked body was found in woodland near his home in Peterborough on 29 November 1994.

Sylvia Clary, 90, told the Old Bailey that James Watson, now 40, waved at her as he and Rikki walked past her home on 28 November.

Mr Watson, of no fixed address, was 13 at the time and he denies murder.

Rikki's mother Ruth Neave reported him missing on 28 November 1994.

A day later his body was found posed in a star shape in woods near his home on the Welland estate.

Ms Neave was accused of his murder, but was found not guilty after a trial in 1996.

After a cold case review in 2015, Mr Watson's DNA was found on Rikki's clothes, which had been dumped in a nearby wheelie bin, jurors heard.

Police on the scene shortly after the murder of Rikki Neave in Peterborough in 1994

The court has heard Rikki was most likely strangled to death with his own anorak.

Ms Clary, a retired school cleaner, told the court she was looking out of her kitchen window between 08:30 and 08:45 GMT when she saw Rikki in his school uniform and anorak.

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Ms Clary said Rikki was with "Jamie" Watson, who she knew because "he lived at the back of our house and his father had put my patio in".

She told jurors that the defendant, who was not in school uniform, looked at her and waved.

Cross-examining, defence counsel Jennifer Dempster QC asked: "If I suggested to you that was not James you saw with Rikki, what would you say?"

Ms Clary replied: "No, it was."

The trial continues.