Jury sent home for Easter break in Rikki Neave murder trial

By Emily Pennink, PA Old Bailey Correspondent
Published 13th Apr 2022, 11:04 BST
Updated 13th Apr 2022, 16:02 BST
Rikki NeaveRikki Neave
Rikki Neave
Judge can accept majority verdict in murder trial when jurors return on Tuesday

Jurors have been sent home for the Easter break in the trial of a man charged with murdering schoolboy Rikki Neave in 1994.

James Watson, 40, is accused of strangling the six-year-old in woods in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, leaving his naked body posed in a star shape.

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Watson was arrested more than 20 years later after DNA on Rikki’s discarded clothes was matched to him.

Watson, of no fixed address, has denied murder.

Jurors at the Old Bailey have been deliberating on a verdict since around noon last Wednesday.

Just before noon on Monday, Mrs Justice McGowan said she would accept a verdict on which at least 10 of the 12 jurors agreed.

The jury did not sit on Tuesday but resumed deliberations on Wednesday morning.

At 3.30pm today (Wednesday) the jurors were sent home for the day, and will not return to the Old Bailey until Tuesday morning at 11.30am.