24 Hours in Police Custody S00E13 The Murder of Rikki Neave Part.1 Original air date - (4th July 2022)
Part one of a two-part special exploring the largest ever unsolved murder case in the history of Cambridgeshire Police, the murder of a six-year-old child in 1994. Initial investigations pointed to the boy's mother, who seemed to have an interest in murder and black magic. When a new team takes over, they uncover flaws in the original police work and a compelling new lead
Part one of a two-part special exploring the largest ever unsolved murder case in the history of Cambridgeshire Police, the murder of a six-year-old child in 1994. Initial investigations pointed to the boy's mother, who seemed to have an interest in murder and black magic. When a new team takes over, they uncover flaws in the original police work and a compelling new lead
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CreativityTranscript
00:00He was a really adventurous little boy. One of the really cheekiest little boys I've ever
00:15known, really. Everybody knew him. He was always out, sticking his hand top off. A white
00:24little rebel. He were naughty. He'd done naughty things.
00:27He got into mischief. But he was lovable. It had melted your heart the minute you met
00:34him. Just to remember his laugh, just, it was so funny.
00:40He was six. Who knows where his life would have been now. That was just ripped away.
00:48Completely and utterly ripped away. I just miss him so much. I tried so much to
00:56protect him. When I see him lying there in that mortuary, it just does more hurting.
01:06This is about justice for Ricky. This has always been about finding Ricky's killer.
01:11This is your opportunity to talk to me. They have lifted prints. Are they going to be yours?
01:29Every minute that's taken away is evidence you're losing.
01:41Today, Detective Superintendent Paul Fullwood announced that they were launching a new investigation
01:51into the cold case. This is the largest unsolved murder in Cambridgeshire. All murder is tragic,
01:58but when a young child is involved, it is truly devastating.
02:03The new investigation into the death of Ricky Neve follows a cold case review instigated
02:10by the head of the Major Crime Unit of Cambridgeshire Police.
02:14There would be a number of questions asked around the original investigation.
02:18What did this mean for the constabulary in terms of reputation?
02:22However, I was left in no doubt that we should reopen the investigation.
02:29We owe it to Ricky and his family to find whoever is responsible for his murder
02:34and ensure they are brought to justice.
02:37We've got an opportunity to look at this again with a fresh pair of eyes,
02:41to use new techniques that weren't available in 1994.
02:47We needed a team of experienced detectives, but absolutely nothing to do with the original investigation.
02:56Just go through in terms of roles, you're here, Andy's here, Kev's here, and John.
03:02We'd have to review the original case and leave no stone unturned.
03:08There's three massive cabinets there, and that's just the documentation.
03:13Sometimes you do find missed opportunities.
03:16If there's anything here, let's find it.
03:19We want to try and reinvestigate it as if it had happened yesterday.
03:23Blank canvas, start from scratch.
03:27It was November. It was cold.
03:58He's got his suit on.
04:00OK. What's your address, please?
04:03209.
04:04Yep.
04:07All right, then, what I'll do, Ruth, I'll get an officer to come and see you,
04:10and he'll take a statement and we'll catch it from there.
04:15A missing person inquiry is launched, and response officers arrive within 17 minutes.
04:22When a six-year-old's gone missing,
04:24you're looking for options of where could this six-year-old be?
04:28Why hasn't he come home? Is there something going on in the house?
04:32Is it a genuine case of someone has taken him?
04:37Do you want to tell us what happened?
04:51I don't want to go to school.
04:53I said, look, Rookie, we've had this over and over again.
04:56You've got to go to school.
04:59He says, I want some breakfast.
05:01I said, well, get yourself some breakfast then,
05:03which was wheat flakes or Weetabix.
05:06He sat at the table.
05:10And he looked so handsome, he did.
05:13All in his white shirt, his trousers.
05:18His lovely haircut.
05:22I says, come on, boys, ready to go to school.
05:25And then, you know, I'll slip off back to sleep.
05:28I'll certainly wake up when it's about quarter to 11.
05:31He'd gone like...
05:39Rufni's at home with her friend.
05:42She'd said round about four o'clock, Rookie's not home from school yet,
05:45I'm a bit worried about where Rookie is.
05:51Rookie was a lad who hung round the estate,
05:54often went off on his own.
05:57And then it got to about five,
05:59I thought, that's no joke, it's very dark.
06:02He hated the dark. Scared stiff of the dark.
06:07As night draws in,
06:09officers search the estate and its surrounding woodland
06:13for the missing child.
06:22At six o'clock, there probably would have been a general feel
06:26that he's on the estate somewhere.
06:33It was later established that he never went to school that day.
06:37No-one had seen him since nine o'clock that morning.
06:52The next morning, still no Rookie.
06:56Searches continue.
06:58Enquiries continue.
07:00By this point, it's made the news.
07:02Joining us live in Peterborough now is Jane Saggers.
07:06Rookie had left home at 9.30 yesterday morning
07:09but never turned up for lessons
07:11at Welland Primary School in Peterborough.
07:13I remember getting a call from the police.
07:16We went straight to Thorpewood Police Station
07:19and interviewed Detective Chief Inspector Keith Chamberlain.
07:26When the cameras stopped rolling,
07:28I remember Keith turning to me and saying,
07:31I've got a really bad feeling about this.
07:38I had to walk past Ruth on my way to school.
07:41She said that Rookie still hadn't been found.
07:44She said that Rookie still hadn't been found.
07:48I said, by the time he got home from school, he'd be home.
07:59It's just a mother's instinct to know that something went right
08:03and he weren't going to come back to me.
08:07He's never going to come back, is he?
08:10And I want him to.
08:15I just want him to so much.
08:24By midday, more officers are drafted in
08:27to conduct an intensive ground search for the six-year-old.
08:31We walked through the trees as best we could, separated out.
08:35It was tangled woodland with little paths running through it.
08:40Five minutes into those woods, I stopped.
08:44Sarge?
08:51We got a tip-off that there was a lot of police activity.
08:58Seeing the white forensic suits
09:01walking from the roadway into the woods
09:06tells you that this isn't a missing persons inquiry anymore.
09:14Julie comes in with a coat on.
09:17She grabs hold of me,
09:20hugs me and whispers in my ear
09:23that there's a dead body at the bottom of the road.
09:29And I automatically thought,
09:31oh, you know, to myself, I've probably got run over,
09:34that it was an accident.
09:36Then she said,
09:38but you're not going to like what you're going to hear,
09:41cos the body's naked.
09:43I said, no, no, it can't be.
09:56Your first protocol is to explore what forensic potential there is,
10:00both from the body and in the immediate vicinity.
10:04There was no clothing recovered at that point,
10:07you just have a naked body.
10:10This was an unusual scene by any standards.
10:13Firstly, he was naked out of doors,
10:15but then he was posed in this star shape.
10:19It was quite striking.
10:22The stripping and posing was telling you something
10:25about the perpetrator.
10:28What? I had no idea.
10:31Pathologists are always loathe to give you time of death,
10:37but the one thing that having that carry out of the scene
10:40did confirm for us is he's been there more than 12 hours,
10:45because he was so cold.
10:53I just remember his cheeky little face just saying he loved me.
10:57I love you, Mummy, with lots and lots of cherry on top.
11:01You're the bestest mum in the whole world.
11:06I've lost everything.
11:10As a senior investigating officer,
11:12Detective Superintendent Keith Chamberlain faces the press.
11:17I just can't describe it, to find a young boy like this, dead.
11:22I just can't describe it, to find a young boy like this, dead.
11:27In the spinning, there isn't really words to describe how I feel,
11:32let alone how his parents feel.
11:38He's the best mum in the world, and I love him.
11:45Anybody that knew Ricky, he was full of life,
11:48and now he's been taken away from us.
11:51And I hope that anybody that knows anything, please come forward.
11:55Don't let this happen anymore.
12:01This was always going to be a Category A murder.
12:04High press interest, high public interest, high political interest.
12:08Media saying, who's the next child to go?
12:11Is the murderer still out there?
12:14There was a real pressure for the senior investigating officer
12:18to get a quick result.
12:21And resisting that pressure is probably one of the hardest things to do.
12:26Within an hour of Ricky's body being found,
12:29officers start house-to-house inquiries on the estate.
12:33The house-to-house inquiries was really their only starting point.
12:37They needed to find out information about Ricky.
12:42Victimology is always important.
12:44It's part of understanding the person at the heart of the investigation.
12:48On the face of it, he was quite a little character.
12:51But was it the norm for him not to go to school?
12:54Were there places he was known to frequent?
12:56Who were his friends?
12:58Where was he last seen?
13:00Trying to formulate Ricky's timeline.
13:04That was really crucial.
13:06That's the red mile.
13:08Everyone suggests, both the original investigation and our investigation,
13:12that Ricky leaves home at around half-past nine.
13:17And there are sightings of Ricky's long red mile walk around about ten o'clock.
13:22There's sightings all over the estate.
13:24He was out and about.
13:25People in the estate said they saw him, said they spoke to him.
13:28Common sense says a route he would have taken to school is a long red mile walk,
13:31but these are people that normally see him going to school.
13:33Yeah. And some of those sightings might be accurate, some might not.
13:36We just don't know. Yeah.
13:38There would have been no CCTV.
13:40There would have been no automatic number plate retrieval systems.
13:44You're totally reliant on people's memories,
13:48on people giving you accurate information.
13:53I want to go through the sightings
13:55and what we've found out since Monday evening from Scaffold Drive.
13:58We've got various sightings of him in that period of six till half-six.
14:02We've also got a number of kids there
14:05who we have yet don't know who they are or what they're doing there.
14:09And really, come half-past six is when we lose sight of him.
14:14Police say they can't rule out the possibility
14:17that other children may have been involved in Ricky's death.
14:21This was relatively fresh off the Jamie Bolger investigation,
14:25and the focus and pressure on the constabulary at the time
14:28would have been really, really difficult.
14:31The temperature rose when the city's mayor added her opinion.
14:35Anywhere in this country, there are children
14:37that are capable of killing other children.
14:39There are. We've seen it with children.
14:41There are. We've seen it with Jamie Bolger.
14:43And it could have happened here.
14:45You're quite convinced that the key to this lies on the Welland?
14:49Yes. He lives on the Welland.
14:52He was found 500 yards from his home address.
14:55The only sightings we have of him on that day are on the Welland estate.
14:59I'm satisfied that the answer lies within that area.
15:02The murderer lives on the Welland?
15:04Very difficult for me to say that.
15:06But the key to it, I'm satisfied, is in the area.
15:12It was born out of a 70s vision of happy living,
15:16a high-density, open-plan estate
15:18where houses and cars would be kept separate,
15:21criss-crossed by paths and alleys.
15:2320 years on, the reality is a world and time apart.
15:27Tell me, is there much to do round here for you lot?
15:30No.
15:31No.
15:32No.
15:33No.
15:34No.
15:35No.
15:36No.
15:37No.
15:38No.
15:39Is there much to do round here for you lot?
15:41Yeah, we go down the pit on the motorbikes.
15:43Do you?
15:44Yeah.
15:45What else do you do?
15:46Er...
15:47That's about it.
15:51It was a close community.
15:53Everyone knew everyone.
15:55We all played out.
15:57Used to play down the woods.
15:59Loved it.
16:02It wasn't, like, the best estate.
16:04You know, there was a lot of people on drugs.
16:07Your cars would get nicked.
16:09How long's that car been there?
16:11About a month.
16:12Who put it there?
16:13I think it was a lot of the older boys.
16:16Why do they do that then?
16:18Cos there's nothing for them to do.
16:23I don't think it's as high crime as it was then.
16:25It's not, no. It's probably less crime now.
16:27It's a notorious place, apparently.
16:29Not that I'm from round here, but from what you hear...
16:31Yeah.
16:33At that time in policing,
16:35unconscious bias around what an estate was like
16:39would come into the thinking.
16:42The police drew conclusions quicker about people
16:46from where they came from.
16:56The whole community has been stunned that a child of only six
16:59could be murdered and found naked.
17:04Overnight, it just changed.
17:06It just wasn't home any more.
17:09There was press everywhere, police everywhere.
17:12There was no kids out playing.
17:14Cos as far as everybody knew, there was a murderer out there
17:17and they didn't know who it was.
17:19Most murders are solved within the first 24 hours,
17:23but this was a proper whodunit.
17:25A tiny pair of Ricky's grey school trousers
17:27were shown to a news conference this afternoon,
17:30along with one of the murdered boy's shirts,
17:32both identical to those recovered in a bundle of rubbish in a dustbin
17:36and an important breakthrough for detectives.
17:40Police made the breakthrough
17:42after a painstaking search of bins on the Welland estate.
17:47We have found a complete set of clothing,
17:50a coat, a school shirt, a school bag,
17:53a coat, a school shirt,
17:56trousers, underwear,
17:59socks and shoes.
18:12The clothes were discovered in a bin,
18:14150 yards from where Ricky Neve's naked body was abandoned.
18:24He was definitely undressed here cos the button from his shirt
18:27was found, sort of, what, a metre or so away? Yeah.
18:33There was, like, a little wooden bridge.
18:35Some planks had been put there.
18:37So that would have been an actual cut-through there.
18:39So whoever killed Ricky left via here... Yeah.
18:43..went through there and put the clothes in the bin,
18:46but almost the first...
18:47It would have been the first bin they came across. Yeah.
18:54They did do a thorough forensic examination of that clothing.
18:59Tapings for hair samples, tapings for fibre samples.
19:04The best they could do at that time.
19:06A post-mortem on Ricky
19:08has shown he died from compression of the neck.
19:12Is there any indication that Ricky was killed
19:14by a child or a teenager or an adult?
19:17It's impossible to comment on that question
19:20because there's nothing, as a result of the post-mortem,
19:23that gives a clue.
19:26The fact of the matter is that Ricky knew his killer
19:30because there was no defecation, there was no urination.
19:34If he didn't, then there would have been some of that
19:37because he would have been scared. Yeah.
19:41There were so many rumours flying around the estate.
19:44This person may have done this, this person was involved
19:47and they did all they could to rule in or out those people
19:51and they did a good job in the most part.
19:56Two days after Ricky's body is found,
19:59officers conduct a thorough search of the family home.
20:06Ruth had four children.
20:07She had three daughters and she had Ricky.
20:10Rebecca and Ricky were the children of Ruth
20:14and her previous partner Trevor.
20:16And then Sheridan and Rochelle were the children of Ruth and Dean.
20:22Dean had left, he'd been in and out of prison.
20:26The police were truly shocked by what they found in Ricky's house.
20:33There is clearly evidence of neglect.
20:40It makes Ruth a viable line of inquiry to rule in or rule out.
20:49Today, in a bizarre twist to the whole murder investigation,
20:53detectives continue to investigate.
20:57Today, in a bizarre twist to the whole murder investigation,
21:01detectives confirm that they have read a manuscript
21:04written by his mother Ruth for a murder novel.
21:10The house itself pinpointed to that investigation
21:14that Ruth Neve loved reading about murder.
21:17She's interested in black magic and all that sort of thing.
21:21Inside Ruth's home was a magazine called The Unexplained
21:25and on the front of that magazine was the da Vinci Vitruvian Man.
21:32Ricky was deliberately displayed, that's clear,
21:35laid out in a star shape like the Vitruvian Man.
21:38And the way Ricky's body was laid out could have been black magic.
21:42Could have been...could have been several other things as well.
21:47Keith Chamberlain, off the record,
21:49told me he didn't like her.
21:51He didn't like what he'd found in the house.
21:53He didn't like what had been going on there.
21:56And I was shocked that he was able to say
22:00that he didn't like the mother of a child murder victim.
22:10We all carry bias, the same as we all carry our own prejudices.
22:14Having them isn't the issue, it's contending them and parking them.
22:19Two weeks on and you still haven't charged or caught anybody?
22:22No, but there is a lot of positive lines of inquiry.
22:25They're protracted inquiries, it's a thing that cannot be rushed
22:28and we must be sure.
22:29Softly, softly? Softly, softly.
22:31But you will crack this? I'm confident, totally confident.
22:37There's been a distinct lack of sympathy on the Welland
22:40for the bereaved mother.
22:41Amidst the rumour and speculation about her son's death,
22:44she's been criticised for allowing him to roam so freely
22:48and because it was six o'clock before she reported him missing.
22:5570 detectives were today intensifying their door-to-door inquiries
22:59on the Welland estate.
23:01Everybody will tell you what she was like on this estate.
23:04You can knock on anybody's door.
23:06One time she's shouting at him, telling him off for lying,
23:11and he swore at her.
23:13She had him stand up in the corner with his hands on his head
23:16and start washing the liquid in his mouth.
23:18And she said, like, he'd been sick and that,
23:21and she carried on tipping it in his mouth.
23:24But he was spitting it out.
23:26Something would make her switch.
23:28She'd start shouting and lashing out,
23:30but, like I said, she wasn't always bad.
23:34It became very apparent that those who had been friends of Ruth
23:39were very quick to turn against her.
23:43My husband didn't like her. He couldn't stand her.
23:46You know, when you get first impressions of somebody,
23:48I don't like you, you're bad news, stay away.
23:50And he wouldn't let me talk to her.
23:53Do you think that you have ever been under suspicion?
23:57Well, the police are quite happy with me,
23:59so I don't give a hoot about anyone else.
24:01I might have shouted and screamed at Ricky,
24:03but I don't, like, every single mother.
24:05I'd never do that to him. Never do that to him.
24:08He was my boy.
24:13Ricky's family held a private funeral service for him.
24:16His mother, Ruth, had to be smuggled through a back entrance
24:19to avoid the press photographers and cameras,
24:22and broke down and sobbed as her son's coffin was carried into the chapel.
24:28The fingers started pointing, and wherever you went,
24:31people would say, or, you know, it had to be her, it had to be her.
24:35Ruth Nee has been forced to move away from Peterborough
24:38after a hate campaign against her.
24:41A litany of people coming forward saying they'd seen things,
24:45the children being screamed at and shouted at,
24:47children being hit.
24:49And I think the investigation started to seriously consider
24:53if she's capable of that, is she capable of killing him?
25:00I received a tip-off that she was to be arrested.
25:0526-year-old Ruth Nee was arrested at 20 minutes to 8 this morning
25:10at a secret address in Cambridgeshire,
25:12where she's been staying with friends since her son's murder.
25:17I'll be back later, believe you me.
25:20I've got to prepare everything.
25:23Will you join your fucking camera before I shove it down your neck hole?
25:29There was television footage that had been set up when she was arrested
25:33that showed her in a very bad light.
25:35Where are you going, fucker?
25:39It's rather reminiscent of what I think the Americans call a perp walk.
25:43When you display a defendant
25:47in handcuffs in front of all the press,
25:50it makes it look as if they're guilty.
25:53Part of your training to be a senior investigating officer
25:56is to form hypotheses based on anything and everything
25:59that could have happened.
26:01Back then, it was very much follow your nose.
26:07That's where I think the tunnel vision came into play.
26:11It's clear to me the investigation was taken one direction
26:16and one direction only.
26:19Ruth did it. We need to try and prove it.
26:36Seven weeks after Ricky's murder,
26:39seven weeks after Ricky's body was found,
26:42Ruth Neve is the prime suspect for her son's murder.
26:50This interview has been conducted in an interview room
26:53at the Thorpwood Playstation in Peterborough.
26:55What's your full name, please?
26:57Mrs Ruth Anne Neve.
26:59Can I ask you to speak up one minute?
27:01Mrs Ruth Anne Neve, I said.
27:05You don't have to say anything unless you wish to.
27:07Anything you do say may be given in evidence.
27:09Do you understand all that? Yes.
27:12From February 1994, you were living at Red Mile Walk with...?
27:15With my children.
27:19When she first moved in, people used to say that Ruth was like a witch.
27:24But I just remember her being quite scary to look at.
27:28She used to shave her hair, dye it jet black, and it didn't suit her.
27:33And she came across hard-faced with it.
27:39All these correlate to the interviews that were done
27:42when she was first arrested.
27:44Yeah.
27:49How would you view the way that you deal with your children?
27:54How you bring them up?
27:57Well, not to my best ability.
28:00Did you feel that you were caring for them all the time?
28:03Yes, I was caring for them all the time.
28:07Would you like to describe Ricky's bedroom to us,
28:11and the furniture that's in it?
28:13OK, the double bunk bed, his bed, his toys in the boxers.
28:19What was the floor covering in Ricky's room?
28:21Clothes.
28:23Clothes.
28:25This family's known to the police, they're known to social services.
28:30She'd come on the radar for things that linked into the children.
28:3521st of October, 1994,
28:38you were visited by detectives at your home address.
28:42This officer tells us,
28:44when they went up to Rochelle's room, the door was tied up.
28:48Someone had taken the time to tie the handle firmly.
28:53So how was Rochelle able to get out of the room?
28:56She wasn't able to get out of the room.
28:58So she was a prisoner in her own bedroom?
29:00No, she wasn't a prisoner in her own room.
29:02They had to put a bit of string round the banister.
29:05If she didn't settle down at night, she'd be running around.
29:08This is 11 o'clock in the morning.
29:10The child, Rochelle, is stuck in her room.
29:16Do you recollect an incident just before Christmas, 1991?
29:21Where uniformed police officers came to see you?
29:24The one about when Ricky was on the doorstep.
29:26What was Ricky doing on the doorstep?
29:28Cos he kept messing about and messing about.
29:31He wasn't even on the doorstep for more than five minutes.
29:34You're putting a three-and-a-half-year-old child out in the middle of winter?
29:38Not in the middle of winter at all.
29:40What, December?
29:43And what was he dressed in?
29:45Charms.
29:46And that's your idea of reasonable chastisement?
29:49Well, it's better than beating him, innit?
29:52Another night in custody for Ricky Neve's mother.
29:55It's now just an hour short of the time
29:57when police would, by law, have to charge her or release her.
30:00Instead, they've gone for a third option
30:02and applied to magistrates for permission to extend the time they can question her.
30:06And police now have a further 36 hours for questioning.
30:13Have you got a drug habit?
30:15I've had a bit here and a bit there, but never had a habit.
30:19An awful lot of people who take drugs
30:22forget about the family that they've got around them.
30:25And I think that certainly happened in Ruth's case.
30:32Ruth ended up being a regular user.
30:35She often sent her son Ricky over to get some from me.
30:41He would come round at all times of the day,
30:44sometimes 11 to 11.30 at night.
30:50I admit that I put it up his sleeve and I watched him go home,
30:54because if I hadn't have given it to him,
30:56that little boy would have been battered black and blue.
31:02The inquiry identified particularly that Ricky seemed to be
31:08the brunt of Ruth's poor parenting.
31:14What do you consider is suitable discipline?
31:17Smack him in the bum, tap him in the hand,
31:19dink him around the earhole, stand him at the wall, put him to bed.
31:23Right.
31:24Her general attitude to Ricky was aggressive.
31:27You have seen, grabbing Ricky by his clothes, under his chin,
31:31and throw him around the room.
31:33You've knocked him to the floor... Is that right?
31:36..and given him a full-body kick to the head.
31:40She put her hands around Ricky's throat and started to throttle him,
31:45saying, I'm going to kill you, you little cunt.
31:57Ruth Neve appeared before the magistrates
31:59after being questioned by detectives since her arrest.
32:02She stood in the dock as the charges were read out to her,
32:05willfully assaulting, mistreating and neglecting Ricky
32:08in a manner likely to cause him suffering or injury to health.
32:18Have you ever heard of the term home office pathologist?
32:21Yeah.
32:23He's told us that Ricky died of compression of the neck.
32:28Yeah, I know that.
32:30And that compression was caused by his jacket.
32:35Was it?
32:37He's telling us that the compression of his neck,
32:41without any doubt, was his jacket.
32:44So what's that got to do with me?
32:47I'd seen him that night.
32:50So why are you looking at me like that for?
32:53I'm not the one who turned around and killed Ricky.
32:56I'm not the one who turned around and killed Ricky.
32:59So that's why you're trying to get it out
33:01and I'm not admitting anything that I haven't done.
33:03I'll say that until I'm blamified.
33:05Ruth, I've never once asked you if you killed Ricky.
33:07I'm not daft. I'm here because I meant to have murdered Ricky.
33:10Do you think I'm stupid?
33:12And I'm answering your question.
33:14No, I didn't murder Ricky.
33:16And I will not admit to nothing that I haven't done.
33:20And no eyewitnesses to this murder.
33:22There is, however, a good deal of evidence which, taken together,
33:25makes it plain that Ruth Need was indeed responsible
33:28for the death of her own son.
33:30The precise place where he was killed at the time of his death
33:33is not known.
33:35So where's their case summary about the...?
33:37So the original investigation is based on the theory
33:40that he came home in the afternoon after school.
33:43Something has kicked off then in that afternoon.
33:46Yeah, between Ricky and Ruth.
33:48She's killed him at that point, somewhere around that time in the afternoon,
33:51before she calls 999.
33:53The friend that's at the house leaves around five o'clock.
33:57The only window of opportunity for Ruth to kill him is five o'clock.
34:03So best-case scenario, Ruth's got possibly 45 minutes...
34:08Max. ..max, in which to not only kill him,
34:11but to also think how she's then going to dispose of his body
34:16Somehow get him down to the woods, get him into the woods,
34:19strip him, put the clothes in the bin,
34:21come back, all the way back into the house, and not be seen.
34:25Yeah. It's impossible, isn't it?
34:27It's ridiculous.
34:32We've listened to all your interviews, all right?
34:35What you've said is,
34:37I haven't physically hurt them because there's never been any bruises.
34:41I assume that physical abuse is bruising or hitting them in some way or mark on them.
34:47Putting washing-up liquid into...
34:51Ricky's mouth. ..Ricky's mouth is physical abuse.
34:54It was only a little bit in his mouth.
34:56No, you're saying it's only a little bit.
34:58But that is physical abuse.
35:01Well, I didn't know that.
35:03You have physically abused your children.
35:07Yes, fair enough.
35:09But I didn't murder him.
35:14I didn't see him that day. I didn't see him that night.
35:18I wish I did, cos if I did, like I said, I wouldn't be sitting here now.
35:26I'm not copping the can for something that I haven't done.
35:30If I'd have done it, I'd come out of it, and I would.
35:33If I'd tell you I said I did it accidentally, I would.
35:36But I didn't do it.
35:39I'm scared shitless because somebody's trying to put me in the frame,
35:43and I haven't done it.
35:46That's how it feels.
35:49Come on.
35:50I'd never murder anyone. I never would.
35:52And I haven't done it, like, intentionally or accidentally.
35:55I didn't full stop.
35:58All these questions upon questions upon questions,
36:01and I would have slain him too, and I didn't murder him.
36:10There was 20 tapes over three days,
36:13each consisting of roughly around about 45 minutes.
36:16A total of nearly 14 hours she was interviewed.
36:22I've been interviewing for 18 years in murders.
36:25Ruth was interviewed over the same things,
36:29and I think that was a strategic effort
36:32to try and get her to admit the offence,
36:35and that borders on oppression.
36:40They were excessive.
36:44And, clearly, she was never going to break
36:47because she wasn't responsible.
36:5226-year-old Ruth Neve, who has been held in custody
36:55and questioned by detectives during the course of today,
36:58has in the last few minutes been charged with the murder
37:01of her son, Ricky, last November in Peterborough.
37:04She will remain in custody this evening,
37:06and she will be presented before Peterborough Magistrates Court
37:09in the morning.
37:12Ruth Neve is going to plead not guilty,
37:14and the case will be fully contested.
37:17Can you tell us any more about her mood this morning?
37:20She's, I have to say, quite low in mood at the moment,
37:23but, of course, that's to be expected.
37:25And in the circumstances, it's probably best
37:27not to say any more about the matter.
37:29Thank you very much.
37:31She was very emotional and very vulnerable.
37:34And distressed.
37:36You know, you could not feel empathy or sympathy for her.
37:49Ruth Neve made the journey to Northampton
37:51to hear the prosecution outline for the first time
37:54what it called the bizarre killing of her own son.
37:59I wasn't particularly confident at the start of the trial
38:02because the prejudice against Ruth Neve was absolutely enormous.
38:09According to the media, she was this horrible monster
38:13who ill-treated all of her children.
38:18What worried me was that the jury wouldn't be able
38:21to see the wood for the trees.
38:25Ruth pleaded guilty to child cruelty,
38:27which meant that we could exclude some of the evidence
38:30that the jury would otherwise have heard.
38:33The trial is expected to last at least five weeks
38:36and hear evidence from up to 120 witnesses.
38:39The hypothesis at the time is that Ruth had killed Ricky at home,
38:44put him in a pushchair and wheeled him to the wooded area
38:49where she had stripped him and dumped his body.
38:54Hello. Hi there.
38:56Good morning. How are you?
38:58The new investigation team make contact with Professor Tony Brown
39:02to analyse the evidence he first told the police 26 years earlier,
39:06eight weeks after the murder.
39:08It was fairly clear that the shoes had one major sort of type of mud on them
39:14which had been picked up in the woodland where he was murdered.
39:17So would your evidence actually support any theory
39:21that Ricky was killed elsewhere and then taken to the woods afterwards?
39:26My evidence only supported a scenario of him walking into the woodland
39:30and not walking out of it.
39:32This did not fit with the scenario that was put forward in the trial.
39:39When Ricky walked into those woods,
39:41Professor Brown's evidence was always there.
39:45James Hunt QC painted a picture of a violent woman addicted to drugs
39:50and fascinated by murder and black magic.
39:53He said she had strangled six-year-old Ricky with his own clothing
39:57and left his naked body, limbs outstretched,
40:00suggesting some kind of ritual.
40:03The prosecution were putting forward inconsistent arguments
40:06that here was a ritualistic killing by a sadistic mother
40:09which involves twisting an arachnid around somebody's neck.
40:12It doesn't make sense.
40:17The jury were told she had a book written by a warlock.
40:20It detailed animal sacrifices
40:23but said the perfect victim was a male child.
40:26Mr Hunt asked,
40:28is it too far-fetched to suggest that Ricky's body was being offered up as a sacrifice?
40:34They ignored the things that would rule her out
40:37and just tried to fit the case into what ruled her in.
40:41Every other child death, murder I've ever dealt with, has been a fit of anger.
40:47If his body had just been dumped, hidden,
40:51I think, yeah, you could say it was a sacrifice.
40:56It was a sacrifice.
40:59If his body had just been dumped, hidden,
41:02I think, yeah, you could say that could have been done in anger.
41:06It's not a criticism because policing was very different then.
41:10But the fact that the original investigation deemed it non-sexual,
41:16well, I'll never get my head around how that decision was made
41:19because the body's laid out, it's stripped naked.
41:23Now, you never say never, but that doesn't fit with a mum.
41:30There wasn't any direct evidence to suggest he'd been sexually assaulted.
41:34However, that doesn't really have a bearing
41:36on whether the motivation of whoever did this was sexual.
41:42Our knowledge of sexually motivated homicide has increased greatly over the years
41:46and I would say it does have the hallmarks of sexually motivated homicide
41:50even though there were no signs of sexual assault.
41:54Nigel Rumfit QC told the jury that Ricky had been seen outside local shops
41:59after he'd been reported missing by his mother.
42:02He said that made it impossible for her to have murdered him
42:05because police officers had been at her house shortly afterwards.
42:10By getting the court to focus on the evidence and not just on prejudice,
42:14you can prevent miscarriages of justice occurring.
42:17Ruth Neve showed one of the few signs of emotion
42:21during the four-week trial and started to cry
42:24as the jury returned verdicts of not guilty to murder
42:28and not guilty to manslaughter.
42:33Having pleaded guilty to child cruelty offences before the trial,
42:37Ruth Neve is sentenced to seven years for these crimes.
42:43I have always maintained my innocence.
42:46Many were quick to condemn me without having heard a word of evidence.
42:52I have had to wait for this moment now to be able to say to them and to everyone
42:57that I am not guilty of killing my own child.
43:02I hope the police will now redouble their efforts
43:05to find the true killer or killers of Ricky.
43:10The policeman in charge of the inquiry was disappointed with the verdict
43:13but he believed his force had done nothing wrong.
43:16Keith Chamberlain revealed that they wouldn't be looking for anyone else
43:19in connection with the inquiry.
43:23My thoughts today are still the same as they were two years ago
43:28for a six-year-old boy whose life was tragically ended too briefly.
43:36The worst thing that could ever happen is to lose your son
43:39and then be dealt with as a suspect for your child's murder.
43:46I met some people in prison like Rose West, Maureen Lee.
43:51Determined, said, you're not a child killer.
43:53And I said, yeah, I know I'm not.
43:55And she said, well, make sure that people believe that.
43:59And I said, yeah, I will.
44:01Ruth Neve was really, really angry
44:05and ultimately she was searching for justice for her son.
44:09I just want to know who did it and why.
44:14Not because it exonerates me.
44:18Because whoever it is ruins my life and ruin my children's lives.
44:24You take out all the evidence of neglect, take that out.
44:28There is no evidence of murder.
44:30No.
44:32Confident they can rule out Ruth Neve as a suspect once and for all,
44:36the new investigation team reassess the original evidence
44:39to identify other people of interest.
44:43Ricky leaves just after 9.30pm
44:45and then we do get a sighting of him walking down Red Mile Walk.
44:51You read the statements, you see who's who, who was where,
44:55who could have potentially been involved in this.
44:58Who can you not rule out?
45:00It's in there somewhere.
45:03From what we understand,
45:05Ricky walked around the estate for a period of time.
45:10At some point he met a boy of 13 years of age
45:14walking through Rotherby Grove.
45:18Can you just introduce yourself, please?
45:20Sylvia Clary.
45:21Sylvia Clary.
45:22I was getting ready to go out when I saw them.
45:25Yeah.
45:26She lived in one of the five houses at the end of Rotherby Grove,
45:29looking out onto the street.
45:32So this is your original statement.
45:34I last saw Ricky after 12.30pm,
45:37but before 1.20pm on Monday 28th November 1994.
45:42He was walking with an older boy who was about 12 years old
45:45and I know that he is Jim Watson's son.
45:48Person of interest.
45:50She's able to name James Watson because she knows James Watson's dad,
45:54so it makes for a really positive identification.
45:57You still remember seeing...
45:58Oh, yeah, walking by the window.
46:00Yeah, yeah.
46:02She told Watson's dad that she had seen Watson with Ricky.
46:08His dad approaches the police cordon.
46:13He tells them,
46:14officers, my son was with Ricky, you need to speak to him.
46:20He's a wrong man and he might be involved.
46:24And there's support information for the issues raised
46:27and it can be found online at channel4.com.
46:31And you can find out what happens next in the concluding part,
46:34which is available on all four right now,
46:36and here on Channel 4 tomorrow night at nine.
46:53Channel 4.