Rikki Neave murder trial: A timeline of the case

November 22 1994: James Watson, aged 13, moves from foster care to a children’s home called Woodgates in March, Cambridgeshire, which is 20 miles from Peterborough.

– November 25 1994: Watson allegedly phones his mother to ask about a fictional young child being found dead in woods.

– November 28: Rikki eats Weetabix for breakfast at around 9.30am and leaves home but never arrives at school. He is seen with Watson by residents in the morning. At 6pm, Ruth Neave, his mother, reports him missing. Police arrive at her home on Redmile Walk at 6.17pm.

– November 29: At 12.05pm, Rikki is found dead in woods near the estate. He is naked and his body posed in a star shape. A post-mortem examination concludes he has been strangled with the zip of his anorak hood.

– November 30: At 9.30am Rikki’s missing clothing is found by a police officer in a wheelie bin in Willoughby Court.

– December 5: Watson gives a lying account when he is interviewed by police as a witness.

– January 19 1995: Ms Neave is arrested on suspicion of the murder and interviewed.

– May 24: She is charged with the murder of her son and offences of cruelty, to him and two of his sisters.

– October 1996: Ms Neave goes on trial at Northampton Crown Court and is unanimously acquitted of murder. The prosecution wrongly allege she killed Rikki at home and then wheeled him in a buggy to the woods after reporting him missing. She pleads guilty to child cruelty and is jailed for seven years.

– 1999: Rikki’s stepfather Dean Neave dies in a car crash.

– 2015: A cold case review is launched into Rikki’s unsolved murder.

– June 11 2015: A press release highlights “major forensic and technological developments in the past 20 years”.

– February 2016: A DNA match to Watson is identified from tapings of Rikki’s clothes and he is designated as a suspect. In police interviews, Watson changes his account and introduces the suggestion he may have picked up Rikki to look at diggers through a hole in a fence.

– 2018: A victim’s right to review is launched into an initial decision by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) not to prosecute Watson.

– October 2019: A reviewing CPS lawyer reaches a decision that Watson should be prosecuted.

– February 17 2020: Watson is charged with the murder of Rikki. However, he challenges the legality of the extradition process used to bring him back from Portugal to face trial.

– February 2022: Watson goes on trial at the Old Bailey for Rikki’s murder.

– April 21 2022: Watson, now 41, is found guilty by a majority verdict of 10 to two by a jury at the Old Bailey.