A 13-year-old stripped Rikki Neave, six, bare and manipulated his physique to create 'the specified picture of it in loss of life', a courtroom heard at present.
James Watson, now 40, allegedly strangled the six-year-old in a wooden in Peterborough in November 1994, posing his physique in a 'star form' earlier than dumping his garments in a wheelie bin.
The killer remained with the sufferer's physique for an hour and made no try to hide it, the Outdated Bailey heard.
Rikki's homicide had remained unsolved for nearly three a long time earlier than subtle DNA testing, used on Rikki's garments in a 'chilly case overview' in 2015, discovered a 'definitive match' with Watson.
Prosecutor John Value, QC, instructed jurors how Rikki's physique was discovered within the wooden 'in a star form, with outstretched arms, and legs positioned broad aside'.
He added that there was no signal of any clothes other than a small, white shirt button 'perched poignantly' on a leaf simply inches from Rikki's left hand.
Within the second day of his opening at present a sequence of photos have been proven in courtroom exhibiting Rikki's physique after it was discovered within the woods.
The prosecutor mentioned: 'No try had been made to hide the physique, fairly the reverse.
'Although posed on its again...there have been mud stains on his face, the entrance of the trunk, the surface of the knees, and the soles of the toes.
'The distribution of mud staining would point out, we recommend, that the killer moved the physique about, after he had stripped it of its clothes, till he achieved the pose that he needed and the pose which might after all be seen when it was discovered by others.
'There may be proof to be thought of later, which reveals, we recommend, that Rikki's killer could have remained in that wooden with the kid's lifeless physique for as much as so long as an hour after the killing.
'Actually...he may have expended appreciable vitality and no little time, eradicating the entire clothes after which manipulating the physique to create the specified picture of it in loss of life.'
The autopsy, carried out at Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Cambridge by Dr Nat Cary, decided the reason for loss of life to be 'ligature strangulation'.
This conclusion was supported by marks to the entrance of Rikki's neck attributable to the enamel of the little boy's entrance jacket zipper.
These marks, it's mentioned, urged Rikki's jacket had been pulled again from behind across the neck for a sustained time frame.
Referencing the photographs proven beforehand, Mr Value instructed jurors: 'You will have seen the pink wheel or mark on the facet of the neck.'
Dr Cary concluded that Rikki's loss of life would have adopted inside 'a minimum of 30 seconds' from when strain was first utilized.
'In context, that's fairly a very long time,' mentioned Mr Value.
'Moreover, nonetheless lengthy it took to deliver concerning the loss of life of this boy, Dr Cary states that the strain should have continued to be utilized for a interval after the kid first grew to become unresponsive and had successfully already collapsed into unconsciousness.
'As a result of deprivation of oxygen causes unconsciousness first after which, provided that it continues thereafter, does it go on to trigger loss of life.
'You'll have to resolve the intent of the one that did this to Rikki.
'It would be best to maintain clearly in thoughts...not simply these mechanics of the act of killing, how lengthy it took, that pressure continued to be utilized to the neck after he was unconscious, but in addition what occurred to the physique after it was accomplished.
'As a result of whosoever it was, the killer of Rikki Neave didn't rush off in panic, as if startled by one thing unintended having occurred.
'He remained with the lifeless physique.
'As talked about, from what he then did, it's recognized he may have stayed with it for a while.
'The loss of life of this youngster was not a shock to him, because it have been borne of an sudden occasion.
'Nor for that matter was it an finish in itself, slightly it was a method to an finish.
'For one factor, it enabled him then to take away the entire clothes.
Prosecutors: 'Rikki was a susceptible youngster'
'We submit that Rikki Neave's loss of life was led to by somebody who acted with an intention to kill him.'
Proof additionally suggests Rikki's strangulation was a shock assault, the courtroom heard.
There was no proof of latest 'blunt pressure harm' which might typically be seen on a physique when a sufferer has tried to defend themselves from a front-on assault.
Mr Value mentioned: 'This...urged to Dr Cary that Rikki had no warning of the upcoming assault.
'He was not a toddler in concern simply earlier than it began.
'Taking account additionally of the character and the situation of the zip marks on the entrance of his neck, actually in addition to metaphorically, we recommend did not see it coming.'
There was additionally no proof of any hurt of a sexual nature having been perpetrated.
Mr Value mentioned Rikki walked into the wooden 'willingly', including: 'This was acquainted territory to him.
'He was at his ease when he was in there on that day. And, after all, he wasn't alone.
'There was no sense of impending hazard, proper up till the deadly and shock assault started.
'Thereafter he would have been lifeless inside lower than a minute and unconscious earlier than that.
'Rikki Neave knew his killer.
'He felt secure and at his ease with him.'
In Might 1995, Rikki's mom, Ruth Neave, was charged with the homicide of her son in addition to offences of cruelty to him and two of his sisters.
She admitted the cruelty fees however she was cleared by a jury of murdering Rikki in 1996, the courtroom has heard.
The courtroom has heard Watson was exhibiting a 'grotesque curiosity' within the topic of kid homicide in late November 1994.
Watson, of no mounted handle, denies murdering Rikki between 28 and 29 November 1994.
The trial continues.
