Man jailed for Rikki Neave’s 1994 murder loses appeal against his conviction

A man given a life sentence for the 1994 murder of six-year-old Rikki Neave has lost an appeal against his conviction.

James Watson, 42, was jailed for a minimum term of 15 years last June after he was found guilty of strangling the schoolboy to death in woods near his home in Peterborough, following a trial at the Old Bailey.

Watson, who was aged 13 at the time of the murder, challenged his conviction at the Court of Appeal, claiming there was a “wholesale loss and destruction” of evidence.

His lawyers also complained about the trial judge allowing so-called “bad character” evidence, which suggested Watson had a sexual interest in young boys and in strangulation, to be considered by the jury.

But he lost the appeal in a written ruling delivered by three judges on Monday.

Lord Justice Holroyde said: “We are satisfied that the judge did not err in admitting the bad character evidence.

“The weight to be given to the evidence was then a matter for the jury.”

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James Watson found guilty of murdering Rikki Neave nearly 30 years ago

The murder was among the most high-profile cold cases in Britain until DNA was identified on the victim’s clothes following a re-examination of the evidence two decades later.

Watson’s trial heard how he strangled Rikki with his own jacket before stripping the boy’s body and posing him in a “star shape”.

Prosecutors said a “key piece” of evidence was the DNA he left on Rikki’s clothes. Samples were taken in 1994 but technology was not sufficiently advanced to provide a match until 2015.

Watson, who denied murder, told police he lifted Rikki up so the youngster could see over a fence.

Sentencing him last year, the trial judge, Mrs Justice McGowan said the law meant Watson had to be handed a minimum term relevant to his age at the time of the killing.

Rikki’s mother, Ruth Neave, said in a statement: “The news today brings to an end a very long journey of horror and tragedy.”

She was found not guilty of the boy’s murder following a trial at Northampton Crown Court in 1996 – although she was given a seven-year jail term after admitting child cruelty.