The Boy in the Woods - The Murder of Rikki Neave

In 1994, six-year-old Rikki Neave was found dead in woodland near the Peterborough estate where he lived. He’d been strangled and left naked in the open. Police enlisted the help of soil expert Professor Tony Brown, who analysed the mud found on the victim’s shoes and provided the investigation with a crucial time for when the murder took place.

Detectives focused their attentions on the boy’s abusive mother, and although the expert witness’s evidence suggested the suspect could not have committed the crime, she went on trial for his murder. Having been found not guilty, 20 years later the boy’s mother called for a reinvestigation, and this time the soil science was paramount in helping police identify the killer. With interviews from lead officer Paul Fullwood and emotional testimony from Rikki’s sister Rochelle, who vividly recalls the day her brother disappeared and the terrible aftermath of his murder.

In the second case in this episode, we explore the world of illegal ivory trading. In December 2019, UK Border Force intercepted packages which had been sold online, sent from London containing suspicious animal products. Dr Lucy Webster specialises in animal DNA analysis and established that the products were made of ivory from a specific living species and were therefore illegal, unlike mammoth ivory. The trader was caught and convicted.