Man who was jailed for the 1994 murder of six-year-old Rikki Neave loses his appeal over life sentence
A 42-year-old man given a life sentence after being found guilty of murdering six-year-old Rikki Neave nearly 30 years has lost an appeal against his conviction.
James Watson was handed a minimum jail term of 15 years by a judge in June 2022 after being convicted of killing Rikki following a trial at the Old Bailey.
Trial judge Mrs Justice McGowan said the law meant Watson, who was 13 when Rikki was found strangled in woods near his home in Peterborough in November 1994, had to be handed a minimum term relevant to his age at the time of the offence.
Watson had challenged his conviction at a Court of Appeal hearing in London in June 2023.
Three appeal judges – Lord Justice Holroyde, Mr Justice Morris and Judge Angela Morris – on Monday said his appeal has failed and ‘must accordingly be dismissed’.
Six-year-old Rikki Neave was found strangled, naked and arranged in a ‘star pose’ in woods near his home in Peterborough
In June last year James Watson was jailed for life with a minimum term of 15 years at the Old Bailey
Rikki’s mother, Ruth Neave, 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.
Watson, who denied murder, was charged after a police cold case review produced a DNA match eight years ago.
The Crown Prosecution Service said a ‘key piece’ of evidence against Watson was ‘DNA he left’ on Rikki’s clothes.
Prosecutors said samples from clothes were taken in 1994 but technology was not ‘sufficiently advanced’ to provide a DNA match until 2015.