Mother Ruth Neave who 'tortured' son Rikki but was cleared of murder breaks 20 year silence to say 'Find my son's killer' Rikki Neave's naked body was found laid in a star shape in woods in 1994 His mother Ruth Neave, now 45, was charged with murdering her son Her trial at Northampton Crown Court heard how she was cruel to him She 'wrote 'IDIOT' on his forehead, dangled him off bridge, and kicked him' Jury told Neave had an interest in black magic and killed him as a sacrifice But she was cleared of murder but admitted five child cruelty charges Now, 20 years on, she wants police to reopen case and 'find Rikki's killer' A mother who was acquitted of strangling her six-year-old son but admitted a catalogue of cruelty against him spoke out today to say: 'My son's murderer remains at large.' Two decades after Ruth Neave, now 45, was cleared of murdering Rikki, who was found strangled in a copse 500 years from his Peterborough home, she insisted: 'I am not the murderer, never was, and never could have been.' Neave was jailed for seven years after admitting 'appalling ill-treatment' of the little boy who neighbours said once sobbed 'I love you Mummy, I love you Mummy' after she gripped him round the throat. Ruth Neave, pictured left at her son's funeral, was cleared of murdering Rikki, right, in 1996, and says now, 20 years after his body was found near their Peterborough home, she wants police to reopen the investigation 'I am not the murderer': Neave, now 45, pictured visiting the spot where her son's body was found in 1994 The jury heard how aged three, Rikki would be turned out of his house at midnight, barefoot in his pyjamas, and left to cry until social services were called. It was alleged his mother wrote 'IDIOT' in green pen on his forehead, dangled him over a bridge by his feet, and squirted washing up liquid in his mouth. Jailing her for seven years, the judge, Mr Justice Popplewell, said he had 'rarely come across a case of such persistent and systematic cruelty'. Freed from prison in 2000, the mother-of-four left her old home on the Welland estate in Peterborough, where neighbours reported seeing her punch, kick and scream abuse at her son, for a new start in Cambridge, 40 miles away. Now, speaking in detail for the first time about her son's murder in November 1994, Neave said: 'The murderer has got away with it, simple as that. But I believe police could use modern day forensics and bring him, her or them to justice. I will never stop until the day they are jailed. I have lost my son, and 20 years later his murderer remains at large. Neigbhours on the Welland Estate in Peterborough where the Neaves lived said Rikki's mother punched and kicked him. She was jailed for seven years after admitted five charges of child cruelty Neave, who also made her first visit to the spot where her son was found, added: 'It is disgusting how I have been treated all these years. I am treated as a murderer and it has to stop. I want someone who takes me seriously to help me to catch those who did murder my son. I am not going away until I get justice for Rikki. At the time of her son's murder, she was also looking after her children Rebecca, then eight, Rochelle, three, and six-month-old baby Sheridean. Neave, now crippled by arthritis and living in a tiny flat with second husband, Gary, has pieced together hundreds of pages of witness statements and evidence which she says is enough to justify Cambridgeshire Police re-opening the murder inquiry. They have been told by police there is 'insufficient evidence' to reopen the case, but Neave insists she has been 'persecuted' and 'mistreated' and that the police 'didn't do their job properly'. She said: 'The police at the time simply jumped on a bandwagon and because they didn't do their job properly the murderer has got it away with it for the past 20 years. Neave, pictured outside her former family home, has asked police to reopen their murder investigation Some b****** murdered my Rikki and got away with it. I am living a nightmare every night and every day. I did not kill Rikki. She went on: 'I was never the mother of the year, and I have never denied disciplining my children. But what needs to be put right is the fact I was never evil to the kids or cruel, which was how social services and the police portrayed me to the public. She told Cambridgeshire chief constable Simon Parr in a letter last month: 'Though I was found not guilty of his murder it seems to me that you have failed in many respects'. Mrs Neave said that police ignored two young boys 'who as good as admitted their involvement in his murder, even after a newspaper boy reported seeing them in that area'. There was also a report of a boy being assaulted in that area a few months earlier but, she said, 'This was neither investigated properly, or the possible links to Rikki's death considered'. Neave said: 'All I ask is for justice for my son and answers to the questions I am asking.' Northampton Crown Court heard allegations of terrible abuse dished out to Rikki, pictured, by his mother Northampton Crown Court heard heard how Rikki's mother called police on 28 November 1994 when the child failed to come home from Welland Primary School and still hadn't returned home by 6pm that night. The court heard how the youngster was found strangled and stripped naked in woodland near his home at around midday the next day by PC Thomas Graham. Rikki's clothes, including his grey school trousers, white shirt and jacket, were found in a bin just 150 yards from his body. Initially charged with Rikki's murder, plus five counts of child cruelty between 1986 and 1994, and a further drugs charge, Neave denied them all at first. She later changed her plea to admit all the charges bar that of murder. Prosecutors told the jury that Rikki was killed in a sacrifice by his mother, who had an interest in the occult and black magic. James Hunt QC told the court the child's body was found in a pose mirrored in books found in her home. It was also alleged that Neave had a fascination with murderers and their minds, and told neighbours on the Welland estate that she was a high priestess of the occult who dabbled in black magic. Jurors heard that she had pleaded with social workers to take her son into care, saying he was in danger if he stayed at home, and one social worker reported witnessing her threatening to 'hang her son from the ceiling'. Another social worker said Neave threatened to kill her son the day before he was reported missing, and a witness reported seeing her walk 'hurriedly' towards the spot where his body was found on the day he went missing. Lawyers for the defence said a sex attacker who had not been found could have been responsible for Rikki's death. They told the court that another child was attacked and tied to a tree five months before Rikki died, and said that a 10-year-old girl said she had seen the boy alive after he had been reported missing. Neave was cleared of murdering her son, but jailed for seven years for cruelty to Rikki, her daughter Rebecca, and one other child.