Killer jailed for life for Rikki Neave's murder allowed to appeal conviction
A man handed a life sentence with a minimum jail term of 15 years after being convicted of murdering Rikki Neave nearly 30 years ago has been given "leave to appeal" against his conviction by three appeal judges.
James Watson, now 41, was 13 when six-year-old Rikki's naked body was found in woodland five minutes from his home in Welland, Peterborough in 1994.
He was jailed by a judge in June last year after an 11-week trial at the Old Bailey.
Barrister Jenni Dempster KC, who led Watson's legal team, told appeal judges the case against her client was "circumstantial".
Appeal judges Lord Burnett, the Lord Chief Justice, Mr Justice Goose and Mr Justice Bennathan, considered Watson's application at a hearing lasting less than an hour.
Man in 30s dies after being stabbed in park sparking police probeWatson was not present at the hearing.
Lord Burnett told Watson's lawyers: "We will be granting leave to appeal."
He said lawyers representing Watson had "arguable" grounds for mounting a full appeal.
During his trial, prosecutors had told jurors that Watson lured Rikki to woods and strangled him to fulfil a "morbid fantasy".
They said he had stripped Rikki and posed his naked body in a star shape for sexual gratification, deliberately "exhibiting" him near a children's woodland den.
Key evidence included Rikki's last meal, of Weetabix, which fixed his time of death at about noon.
It meant Rikki was killed shortly after being seen with Watson heading to the woods where he used to play.
Rikki's muddy Clarks shoes also indicated his walk into the woods was a one-way trip.
In a police interview in 2016, Watson attempted to explain his DNA's presence on Rikki's clothes by claiming he picked him up to look at diggers through a hole in a fence.
Dempster, who defended Watson during his trial, said at the time that her client’s most substantial mitigation was his age at the time of the offence.
Russian model killed after calling Putin a 'psychopath' was strangled by her exShe also said there were “particularly sensitive matters” in Watson’s life – not aired in court – which made him vulnerable and he was taken into care in 1993 after being assaulted by his father.
She previously said: “The defendant himself was a victim at the hands of others.
“The defendant’s education and general childhood was affected by being let down by a variety of adults in his life who ought not to have done so.”
Watson, who has a long criminal record for convictions including stealing cars, fled to Portugal while on bail on suspicion of murder, but was extradited back to Britain.
Trial judge Mrs Justice McGowan said his sentence was determined largely by the age he was at the time of Rikki's death.