DESPITE his tender years, Rikki Lee Neave was streetwise, regularly got into
trouble and was used by his mother as a late-night drugs runner. But in other
ways he was a typical six-year-old – he was scared of the dark and always had a
light on when he slept.
Rikki's parents, Ruth Neave and Trevor Harvey, met in 1984 and set up home in
Truman Avenue, March, where they lived for seven years before splitting up.
Ruth married Dean Neave, a small-time criminal and drug abuser, in 1991 and
moved to the Welland, in Peterborough. Rikki took his step-father's name,
although it was clear the youngster had grown to hate him.
He saw him as a rival for his mother's affections and blamed him for hurting his
mother in the past.
Rikki was a pupil at Welland Primary School, in Scalford Drive, where he was
seen as one of the more challenging youngsters and often got into trouble.
He would skip school or was late if he did attend, but he was popular among his
fellow pupils and staff.
Welland residents spoke of Rikki as a cheeky tearaway with an innocent smile
that could get him out of scrapes. But Rikki's life at his home was far from
innocent.
He was sent out at night onto the Welland to collect his mum's supply of drugs,
usually amphetamine sulphate, and he would turn up on a neighbour's doorstep,
often without shoes and socks on.
Rikki – an experienced shoplifter who could often be foul-mouthed and abusive –
also suffered regular physical and mental abuse at the hands of his mother Ruth.
On the day he went missing, like many times before, Rikki did not attend school.
One of his best friends was Ben Abbott, who struggled to come to terms with the
tragedy.
It was too much for an eight-year-old to comprehend.
No child can be expected to understand that their closest pal has been brutally
killed. Ben could not believe his cheeky, mischievous, buddy from many a
childhood scrape was gone. Forever.
Ben and Rikki were both pupils at Welland Primary School and even after his
friend's death, Ben still expected to arrive at school and see him in the
playground. It was not until two days after Rikki's body was found that Ben
started grieving for his friend. Ben, who is now 18, lived in Saxby Gardens, on
the Welland, at the time, and was two years older than Rikki.
He said: "He was one of those cheeky kind of geezers, but he was a good old boy
and a good friend.
"We used to play football and every kid gets bored with that so we used to climb
on garages, and we spent a lot of time playing in the park.
"He was a clever lad and didn't act his age – he was old beyond his years and
streetwise. A lot of children on the estate were streetwise because you had to
be. It's not so bad now but then everyone was poor and you would see kids as
young as five out at night."
Ben, of South Street,
Stanground, Peterborough, said Rikki would often be barred from going out by his
mother, Ruth.
He said: "I slept round his house a couple of times and his mum used to smoke
drugs. Everyone used to tell me that she would sell drugs and give Rikki drugs
to sell to people.
"Rikki didn't know what he was doing with the drugs. Even though it was a rough
estate, we didn't know what drugs were then.
"His mum would overdose and do it all the time for attention. I never saw her
hit Rikki but if we were out doing something that we shouldn't do, he would say
that his mum would proper beat him up. He had a bruise on his cheek once when he
came to school and the teachers would ask him about it.
"I would often call round for him but he wouldn't be allowed out and his mum
would stop him from seeing anyone. But I was with him all the time in the
playground."
Ben said on the day Rikki went missing he had been at school but left at about
11am.
He said: "No one knew where he was. I wasn't in his class so I asked people at
break time.
"When I got back from school the next day, my mum and my friend Robert Shinn's
mum sat us down and told us. Robert started crying but I didn't think she meant
the Rikki I knew.
"I think I was too young at the time to understand. I started to realise and I
got upset about two days after, when it sank in.
"When I went to school I expected him to be there, but he wasn't."
Ben said the children who knew Rikki best were put into special counselling
classes.
"We would talk about things we needed to get off our chest," he added. "My dad
and I moved from the Welland to our current home in 1997, to put it all behind
us."
Ben was himself a troubled and angry child who was not helped by Rikki's sudden
and violent death. After leaving Welland primary, Ben attended Stanground
College, but ended up at the controversial Ellindon School, in Bretton, and then
the pupil referral unit at Huntly Lodge, Orton Longueville.
He now has a girlfriend and is looking for work in engineering, but he still has
his memories of Rikki and the Welland.
But one memory, which summed up his former friend's character, will always
remain with him.
He said: "I remember one time at school when all the younger children were
painting. There was a piece of fruit in front of everyone that they had to
paint. Rikki started grabbing all the fruit off people and taking bites out of
everything. Then he tried painting an apple with a bite taken out of it. He was
just a cheeky lad."
RIKKI NEAVE:
The sickening and senseless murder 'of the best boy in the world'
