Police ignored key scientific evidence in murder of March schoolboy Rikki Neave

Police ignored scientific evidence during the early days of the investigation into the murder of former March schoolboy Rikki Neave as they tried to build a case against his mother.

A BBC investigation into the case, which is being presented in 'The Boy in the Woods' on BBC Radio 4, has uncovered evidence that the original police investigation ignored key evidence has they tried to make a case against Rikki's mother Ruth Neave.

For more than 20 years Rikki's killer remained at large, until James Watson was finally convicted of the killing in April this year.

His conviction came after a cold-case review and a new investigation and finally saw Watson, who was just 13 at the time of the murder, sentenced to life with a minimum term of 15 years following a trial at the Old Bailey.

'The Boy in the Woods' is being presented by award-winning documentary makers Winifred Robinson and Sue Mitchell.

Early in the inquiry Professor Tony Brown, a forensic scientist from Southampton University who helps solve crimes by looking at pollen in mud was asked by police to examine Rikki's clothing.

He concluded that mud, clinging to the raised ridges on the soles of Rikki’s shoes, indicated he had died in the woods rather than at home, as the prosecution in the failed case against Ruth Neave claimed in court.

Ruth was cleared of killing her son following a trial in 1996.

The prosecution had told the jury that Ruth had killed Rikki at home and taken his body to the woods in a pushchair.

Prof Brown had offered to also examine the buggy but it never arrived.

He told Radio 4: "I was very glad when there was a cold case review. It remained the only case I have been involved in, where my evidence had been disregarded."

Prof Brown said: "I focused on the right shoe because that had mud on the positive tread and that is significant. The ridges underneath your shoes, the positive tread, don't normally have mud on them as soon as you go on to tarmac or a pavement or a hard surface."

He concluded that "the shoes had walked into the wood but hadn't walked out again - and that's critical".

Watson was seen with Rikki on the morning he went missing in November 1994 and was questioned by police soon afterwards.

But during the original investigation no clothing was taken from him or any other person of interest for potential fibre matching, contrary to standard practice at the time.

Forensic scientist Peter Lamb had isolated fibres on Rikki's clothes that could have come from his killer and was expecting to be sent clothing belonging to potential suspects.

"That would have been the obvious thing to do," he said. "Most of the cases similar to this, I seem to recall quite a lot of suspects' clothing coming into the frame."

But in this case, not a single piece of clothing was sent. "We had identified fibres we couldn't find a legitimate source for, but we never had items to compare them against."

Cambridgeshire Assistant Chief Constable Paul Fullwood, who led the cold case review, said by today's standards police would look back at the original investigation and ask how it could happen.

He told Radio 4: "But the way things were investigated in 1994 were very different from today, the rules of disclosure were very different.

"That doesn't make it right and it doesn't make it palatable in any way, but in their minds they were focused on trying to prove that Ruth Neave was responsible for the murder of Rikki."

Rikki's mother told the BBC she always felt police were determined to pin her son's murder on her.

"They interviewed me for days and all the time I begged them to try to find my son's real killer," she told them.

Ruth added: "What no-one knew until your investigation was how the police had discarded scientific evidence that proved I could not have killed him in the way they later described in court.

"They have destroyed my life. I am just relieved the truth is finally out."

In a one-off discussion programme, on Monday October 17 at 8pm Winifred explores the failure of the authorities who were in contact with Rikki and his family and how children like him can be better protected.

'The Boy in the Woods', presented by Winifred Robinson, produced by Sue Mitchell and edited by Philip Sellars, was broadcast for the first time yesterday (Monday) and will be broadcast weekdays at 1.45pm and will be available as a boxset on BBC Sounds.