Rikki Neave’s mother Ruth Neave is declared not guilty of killing her own son after 27 years of hustling to prove her innocence.
In November 1994, Rikki Neave’s body was discovered in a forest near his house on the Welland estate in Peterborough, nude and positioned star-shaped with his arms outstretched and legs wide apart.
His mother who had been jailed for his alleged murder has now come out as innocent. Let’s get to the development of the Mother-child cruelty case over the years.
Who Is Ruth Neave? Rikki Neave Mother-Child Cruelty Case
Rikki Neave’s mother Ruth Neave has told how she had to yell and shout to finally seek justice for her son after living under the cloud of suspicion for over 30 years. She was charged with the murder of Rikki, a six-year-old boy who went missing and was found dead in a Peterborough woods in 1994.
Rikki’s death was declared a “cold case”. It was technically closed and unresolved, until Neave and her husband, Gary Rogers, put pressure for the case to be reopened in 2015.
In 1994, Fullwood and his crew uncovered a series of tapings, basically sellotape put to Rikki’s garments that were seized as evidence. They were sent to be examined using procedures that were not available during the original study.
This brought a dramatic twist to the case proving the mother to be not guilty of murdering her own son. 27 years later, justice has been served right and the mother is free from the investigation.
Justice Served To Rikki Neave’s Mother
While Ruth Neave was named a suspect in the case, there was another prominent name being considered. As he was a teenager, the jury did give him a benefit of the doubt but with time, the scene got more and more clear.
The DNA of someone named James Lewis Watson, who was 13 at the time of Rikki’s abduction, was discovered during the examinations.
Prosecutors called the finding a unique moment. The questions were nothing new to Watson. On the 5th of December 1994, the police interrogated him as a witness after he was spotted with Rikki by two different witnesses on the day of the disappearance.
Watson was named a suspect in the homicide when his DNA was discovered, and a reassessment of all evidence in the case began in February 2016.
Is Rikki Neave Original Culprit James Watson Sentenced?
After 36 hours and 31 minutes of deliberation, James Watson was declared guilty by a majority of the jury. Mrs. Justice McGowan, the judge, said he will be sentenced on May 9th. Murder carries a punishment of life imprisonment.