Rikki Neave: 'A white naked body would have stood out like a beacon'

Rikki Neave's body was found near his Peterborough home on 29 November 1994

A former police officer has told a jury the body of a strangled schoolboy was not in woodland he had searched on the night the child was reported missing.

Six-year-old Rikki Neave's body was found in the woods near his home in Peterborough the following day, on 29 November 1994.

Roberto Silveri told the Old Bailey he was confident that Rikki was not in the Cambridgeshire woods that night.

James Watson, who was 13 at the time of Rikki's death, denies murder.

Mr Watson, now 40, is accused of strangling the six-year-old and posing his naked body in the woods.

Mr Silveri, previously known as PC Robert McNeill, said detectives later pointed out that Rikki was found a short distance into the woods, an area he said he had previously checked.

"I was taken to the spot where he was located," he told the court.

"Had that body been there that night, I would have stood on him.

"It was on the path that I walked through."

More from the trial:

• Murder accused 'messed up' by leaving UK

• Accused admits series of crimes but denies murder

• Mum's child cruelty probed during murder trial

Asked by defence counsel Jennifer Dempster QC if the body was there, Mr Silveri replied: "Absolutely not."

He added: "A white, naked body would have stood out like a beacon."

Mr Silveri said he spent time calling out Rikki's name, believing the boy might have been "hiding" from him.

The court has heard the case was reopened in 2015 when adhesive tapings from Rikki's clothes were examined, and a DNA match to Mr Watson was allegedly made.

The trial continues.

Police on the scene shortly after Rikki Neave's body was found in Peterborough in 1994