The mother of murdered schoolboy Rikki Neave has denied having an interest in black magic and bragging about being a “high priestess of the occult”.

Ruth Neave was cleared of killing six-year-old Rikki, who was found strangled and posed naked in a star shape in woodland near his Peterborough home in 1994.

On Wednesday, Ms Neave was quizzed at the Old Bailey about her interest in murder and the occult by a lawyer for James Watson, who is on trial for Rikki’s murder.

Jennifer Dempster QC read a selection of titles of books that were among 143 items seized from Ms Neave’s home in the wake of Rikki’s death.

They included books about Moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley and unsolved killings.

Ms Neave told jurors that it was not illegal to be interested in the subject.

Ms Dempster went on to list books on the occult and sorcery such as Aleister Crowley’s Magick In Theory And Practice, which was written in 1929.

She said: “That book was about rituals and sacrifices.”

Ms Neave replied: “Yes, it was.”

The lawyer suggested it also referred to “black magic”, rituals of Pentagram and included diagrams of star shapes.

Ms Neave said she did not believe in the occult “now”, adding that she had only been interested in Tarot and Quija boards and “stuff like that”.

She denied having a conversation about how she could get away with the “perfect murder” when watching a television programme about forensic science.

Asked if she ever described herself as a “high priestess of the occult”, she said: “No such thing.”

Ms Neave also denied being into black magic involving “pins and dolls”.

The witness laughed off an allegation that she told a police officer in January 1995 that she “had taken part in a seance to try to contact Rikki”.

The prosecution alleges that police were focused on Ms Neave as a suspect when they should have been looking at 13-year-old Watson, who was seen with Rikki on the day he went missing.

Ms Neave appeared emotional as she was questioned about what she remembered of the day Rikki disappeared.

Ms Dempster said: “Is the bottom line you don’t really know what time Rikki left that morning?”

The witness replied: “Yes I do. 8.30-8.45am.

“The police stitched me up and it seems like they are doing it again.

“At the end of the day, who’s on trial – me or your client?”

Asked why she did not accompany Rikki, Ms Neave said: “I don’t know why. It was the biggest mistake of my life not walking him to school.”

Later, Ms Neave was asked about comments she allegedly made in 1995 while she was on bail for child cruelty.

Referring to herself and her then-husband Dean Neave, she allegedly said of their children: “We have given life to them and we can take their life away – not literally, I don’t mean literally.”

She allegedly went on to claim: “If I had respite care before the murder, it would not have happened.”

Ms Dempster suggested the witness also talked about the “perfect murder”.

Ms Neave told jurors: “That’s a load of rubbish.”

She told the court that she had written a short story about a “perfect murder” in which a man kills a woman and “gets away with it”.

But she insisted the dark tale was just a “fictitious story”.

Ms Neave said: “No because I never done it, I’m innocent.”

Concluding her cross-examination, Ms Dempster asked: “Did you murder Rikki?”

Ms Neave, who gave evidence by video link, sat in silence.

Ms Dempster continued: “Did you murder your son? Are you really not going to answer that question?

“Did you kill Rikki without intending to? Did you kill him accidentally? Did you move his body in a buggy? Did you have anything to do with posing Rikki’s body in a star shape?

“Did you take his body to one of his favourite places to play? Will you not answer these questions, Ms Neave?”

After a lengthy pause the witness replied: “I treat it with the contempt it deserves.”

Watson, now aged 40, was charged with murder after his DNA was allegedly found on Rikki’s clothes found dumped in a wheelie bin.

The defendant, of no fixed abode, has denied the charge.