Rikki Neave’s mum asked if she had killed her son as murder trial continues

Ruth Neave was cleared of killing six-year-old Rikki, who was found strangled and posed naked in a star shape in woodland near his Peterborough home in 1994.

On Wednesday, Ms Neave was quizzed at the Old Bailey by a lawyer for James Watson, who is on trial for Rikki’s murder.

Ms Neave appeared emotional as she was questioned about what she remembered of the day Rikki disappeared.

Jennifer Dempster QC said: “Is the bottom line you don’t really know what time Rikki left that morning?”

The witness replied: “Yes I do. 8.30-8.45am.

“The police stitched me up and it seems like they are doing it again.

“At the end of the day, who’s on trial – me or your client?”

Asked why she did not accompany Rikki, Ms Neave said: “I don’t know why. It was the biggest mistake of my life not walking him to school.”

Later, Ms Neave was asked about comments she allegedly made in 1995 while she was on bail for child cruelty.

Referring to herself and her then-husband Dean Neave, she allegedly said of their children: “We have given life to them and we can take their life away – not literally, I don’t mean literally.”

She allegedly went on to claim: “If I had respite care before the murder, it would not have happened.”

Ms Dempster suggested the witness also talked about the “perfect murder”.

Ms Neave told jurors: “That’s a load of rubbish.”

She told the court that she had written a short story about a “perfect murder” in which a man kills a woman and “gets away with it”.

But she insisted the dark tale was just a “fictitious story”.

Ms Neave said: “No because I never done it, I’m innocent.”

Concluding her cross-examination, Ms Dempster asked: “Did you murder Rikki?”

Ms Neave, who gave evidence by video link, sat in silence.

Ms Dempster continued: “Did you murder your son? Are you really not going to answer that question?

“Did you kill Rikki without intending to? Did you kill him accidentally? Did you move his body in a buggy? Did you have anything to do with posing Rikki’s body in a star shape?

“Did you take his body to one of his favourite places to play? Will you not answer these questions, Ms Neave?”

After a lengthy pause the witness replied: “I treat it with the contempt it deserves.”

Watson, now aged 40, was charged with murder after his DNA was allegedly found on Rikki’s clothes found dumped in a wheelie bin.

The defendant, of no fixed abode, has denied the charge.