Murdered boy 'suffered at mother's hands'

Murdered boy 'suffered at mother's hands'

A murdered boy of six had been subjected to a catalogue of cruelty by his mother and her husband, a jury was told yesterday.

Rikki Neave was punched, kicked, lifted into the air by his throat, thrown upstairs and dangled from a bridge by his ankles, it was said at Northampton Crown Court where his mother Ruth, 28, of Peterborough, denies murder.

Christine Seaborne, who knew Ruth Neave when she lived in March, Cambridgeshire, said she had once seen Rikki being dangled from a bridge by Ruth Neave.

"Ruth was with another girl and they were standing there and Ruth had Rikki hanging over the bridge by his ankles," Mrs Seaborne told the jury. "As I walked by, they were just laughing ... he was screaming."

The case continues.