A person given a life sentence for the 1994 homicide of six-year-old Rikki Neave has misplaced an attraction in opposition to his conviction.
James Watson, 42, was jailed for a minimal time period of 15 years final June after he was discovered responsible of strangling the schoolboy to dying in woods close to his dwelling in Peterborough, following a trial on the Old Bailey.
Watson, who was aged 13 on the time of the homicide, challenged his conviction on the Court of Appeal, claiming there was a “wholesale loss and destruction” of proof.
His attorneys additionally complained concerning the trial decide permitting so-called “bad character” proof, which advised Watson had a sexual curiosity in younger boys and in strangulation, to be thought-about by the jury.
But he misplaced the attraction in a written ruling delivered by three judges on Monday.
Lord Justice Holroyde mentioned: “We are satisfied that the judge did not err in admitting the bad character evidence.
“The weight to be given to the proof was then a matter for the jury.”
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James Watson discovered responsible of murdering Rikki Neave almost 30 years in the past
The homicide was among the many most high-profile chilly circumstances in Britain till DNA was recognized on the sufferer’s garments following a re-examination of the proof 20 years later.
Watson’s trial heard how he strangled Rikki along with his personal jacket earlier than stripping the boy’s physique and posing him in a “star shape”.
Prosecutors mentioned a “key piece” of proof was the DNA he left on Rikki’s garments. Samples have been taken in 1994 however know-how was not sufficiently superior to supply a match till 2015.
Watson, who denied homicide, advised police he lifted Rikki up so the teen may see over a fence.
Sentencing him final 12 months, the trial decide, Mrs Justice McGowan mentioned the legislation meant Watson needed to be handed a minimal time period related to his age on the time of the killing.
Rikki’s mom, Ruth Neave, was discovered not responsible of the boy’s homicide following a trial at Northampton Crown Court in 1996 – though she was given a seven-year jail time period after admitting youngster cruelty.
Source: information.sky.com”