1. A Child is Missing

For more than 20 years the case of the murder of six-year-old
Rikki Neave went unsolved. In this new ten part investigation,
award-winning journalist Winifred Robinson, has unearthed the
truth through unprecedented access to police interview rooms, and
follows the investigation as the police move in on the
perpetrator.


It's a haunting and heart-breaking case filled with injustice, a
story of vulnerable children, known to the authorities who should
have been protected, a tale of lives wasted and cut short. You'll
hear original police tapes never broadcast before, fresh
testimony from suspects and witnesses, new and compelling
evidence from forensic scientists. The series takes you inside
the jury room and abroad as the manhunt closes in.


Close friends of Rikki, who were themselves vulnerable children,
explain for the first time how a lively and mischievous
six-year-old was an easy target for a killer who would kill him
in the woods near his home in Peterborough and lay out his body
in a macabre star shape. Rikki's death came to shape all their
lives.


Winifred Robinson, the reporter, and Sue Mitchell, the series
producer, are an award-winning BBC documentary team. They have
worked together for 20 years on high profile cases, interviewing
the father of James Bulger. His son's killing provoked huge
interest in Rikki’s case.


In Episode One of The Boy in the Woods the BBC Journalist,
Winifred Robinson, tracks the last hours before six-year-old
Rikki was reported missing. He was late setting off for school
that day. His mother, Ruth, watched him as he quickly ate his
breakfast and then she caught sight of him just before he went
out the front door: it was the last time she would ever see him
alive again.


The Boy in the Woods is Presented by BBC Journalist, Winifred
Robinson; the Series Producer is Sue Mitchell Sound Design is by
Tom Brignall