Man serving life for Rikki Neave murder to challenge conviction
James Watson is serving a life sentence for murdering the six year old boy in Peterborough
Last updated 13th Jun 2023
A man serving life for murdering six-year-old Rikki Neave will challenge his conviction at the Court of Appeal.
Rikki's murder in 1994 was among the most high-profile cold cases on police files, until DNA was identified on the victim's clothes following a re-examination of the case two decades later.
James Watson, 42, was 13 years old when he killed Rikki.
He was jailed for life with a minimum term of 15 years at the Old Bailey last June (2022).
After a hearing in March, he was given the go-ahead to challenge his conviction.
Judges said he had "arguable" grounds of appeal.
His lawyers told the Court of Appeal hearing that the evidence against Watson was "circumstantial".
Appeal judges said media reports of the hearing could not reveal detail of Watson's grounds of appeal.
Watson's trial heard he had lured Rikki to woods and strangled him to fulfil a "morbid fantasy".
Prosecutors told the Old Bailey he had stripped Rikki and posed his naked body in a star shape for sexual gratification, deliberately "exhibiting" him near a children's woodland den.
Watson denied murder but was found guilty by a jury.
Trial judge Mrs Justice McGowan said Watson's sentence was determined largely by the age he was at the time of Rikki's death.
Rikki's mother, Ruth Neave, was cleared of his murder following a trial at Northampton Crown Court in 1996, but given a seven-year jail term after admitting child cruelty.
The appeal will be heard today (Tuesday 13th) by Lord Justice Holroyde and two other judges.