Rikki Neave: 24 Hours in Police Custody highlights complexity of solving 30-year-old murder

Rikki Neave was just six years old when he was murdered

A detective whose team brought the killer in a 30-year-old murder case to justice said a TV show would highlight how it was an "extremely complex" case.

Last month, James Watson, 41, was jailed for life after being found guilty of murdering six-year-old Rikki Neave in Cambridgeshire in 1994.

The case will be featured on Channel 4's 24 Hours in Police Custody.

Lead officer, Paul Fullwood, said the re-investigation was "unlike anything we had encountered before".

Watson, who was 13 at the time, strangled Rikki in woodland on the Welland Estate in Peterborough on 28 November before leaving his naked body posed in a star shape.

He was found the day after he disappeared.

Former Assistant Chief Constable Paul Fullwood launching the cold case in 2015

The boy's mother, Ruth Neave, had initially been accused of killing him, but while she was jailed for seven years for child cruelty after a trial in 1996, she was cleared of murder.

Rikki's mother Ruth was cleared of his murder in 1996

Former assistant chief constable Mr Fullwood came out of retirement to see out the case and had a meeting with Rikki's family in Cambridge in 2014.

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He organised a cold case investigation with a new team made up of staff not involved in the original investigation, which is depicted in two episodes of the Channel 4 programme.

"This investigation was extremely complex and quite unlike anything else the team has encountered before," Mr Fullwood said.

"We meticulously trawled through hundreds of statements, exhibits and other evidence to build a timeline of Rikki's last movements and find his killer.

"The programme will take people on the whole journey, over the past three decades, from Rikki's tragic death to the conviction of his killer after an almost eight-year battle by the investigation team.

"Our aim was always to find the answers Rikki's family longed for and to ensure the person responsible for his untimely death was brought to justice."

24 Hours in Police Custody is due to be broadcast at 21:00 GMT on Monday and Tuesday, and will be available online afterwards.

Rikki's naked body was found the day after he disappeared in November 1994