What happened to Ruth Neave?
RUTH NEAVE had to face the worst thing that a mother can ever think of – the death of her own son.
She not only had to mourn her son Rikki Neave, but she was also wrongly accused of murdering the six-year-old who was found dead in the woods.
Who is Ruth Neave?
Ruth Neave is the mother of murdered six-year-old Rikki Neave.
Her son left for school and never came back prompting her to report her son missing on November 28, 1994, at around 6pm.
She later discovered that her son never made it to school that day and 24 hours later, she received the most horrible news that she could ever think of.
Rikki was found dead in the woods near their home on the Welland estate in Peterborough.
What happened to Ruth Neave?
Ruth was wrongly accused of murdering Rikki.
She was charged with child cruelty and sentenced to seven years in prison. She was acquitted of murder.
Read More on Rikki Neave
This came after her court trial in 1996 heard that she abused Rikki in several instances.
It heard that she threatened to kill him her son, another time she scrawled “idiot” across his forehead and once she squirted washing up liquid into his mouth.
Rikki was also known by Cambridgeshire social services as a vulnerable child, and was on the county’s Child Protection Register, which worsened Ruth’s case.
An image of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man in her house also raised suspicions of detectives as Rikki’s body was left in a star shape..
Rikki’s body was found naked, in a starfish shape with his arms stretched out and his legs wide open.
She served her prison sentence but after her release pleaded with detectives to reopen the case.
After 27 years, details overlooked in the initial investigation were explored further and it was revealed that the real killer was James Watson, who was 13 years old at the time of the murder.
Watson is now serving a lifetime prison sentence, and must serve a minimum of 15 years before having Parole consider his release.
Who was her son Rikki Neave?
Rikki was still a schoolboy and his half-sister Rochelle – who was aged three at the time of her brother’s loss – described him as “loving and caring”.
She explained how when there was nothing to eat in the house, her brother used to “go to the shop, he would nick [food] and come back and feed us”.
She added: “[He’d] make sure we were clean so he’d run a bath because he was so clean, he loved being clean.”
Where is Ruth Neave now?
When released from prison, Ruth returned to Cambridgeshire and eventually met Gary Rogers, who is now her husband.
Ruth could not bring herself to attend Watson’s trial and sentencing, so a witness statement from her was read out instead.
It said: “Like stones dropping in a pond, [the murder] has rippled out far and wide.
“Rikki’s murder left a massive hole in our lives and in our hearts.
“I miss him so much that it feels like I have had my heart ripped out.”
Read More on The Sun
Channel 4 documentary series, 24 Hours In Police Custody, follows Watson’s arrest.
The two-parter showed footage from inside the police station and details in the investigation that led to his conviction.