The accused killer of schoolboy Rikki Neave gave a 'wealth of new detail' when he was interviewed by police 22 years after the murder, a court heard.
James Watson was 13 when he allegedly strangled the six-year-old in a wood in Peterborough, left his body in a 'star shape' pose and dumped his clothes in a wheelie bin 27 years ago.
The killer remained with the victim's body for an hour and made no attempt to conceal it, the Old Bailey has heard.
Rikki's mother Ruth Neave was wrongly accused of his murder and cleared by a jury in 1996.
Jurors have heard sophisticated DNA testing, used on Rikki's clothes in a 'cold case review' in 2015, found a 'definitive match' with Watson.
Now aged 40, Watson denies murdering Rikki, between November 28 and 29, 1994.
James Watson, 40, is on trial for the murder of six-year-old Rikki Neave at the Old Bailey in London. He denies killing the youngster and dumping his body in woods near the victim's home in Peterborough in November 1994
Rikki was murdered near his home in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire on December 5, 1994 and his body was dumped in some nearby woods, circled
In his original police statement in 1994, Watson said he encountered a 'small boy' while walking to his father's house and they had a brief exchange about a nearby digger before parting ways.
He said at the time he did not know Rikki.
Re-interviewed by police in July 2015, Watson said: 'I have now read my original statement and I trust myself that what I said then is what happened.'
But a year later, Watson gave another account of his meeting with Rikki in which he 'introduced a wealth of new detail'.
He told police: 'I picked him up, chucked him over the, you know, over the fence.
'Not chucked him over the fence but you know held him up over the fence, watched the guys doing the work.
'And then we left and walked off down the second hill...we walked off here and I carried on my route here across, through these houses across home.
'I'm guessing I would've just picked him up under his arm pits and lifted him up the fence.
Police continued to appeal for information in the years following Rikki's murder
Rikki's mother Ruth Neave, pictured right with her husband Gary Rogers was initially charged with her son's murder but was later acquitted
Watson, centre, told police he had lifted Rikki up to look over a fence at a digger before he had been asked to account for his DNA on the young boy's clothes
'I couldn't, I wouldn't swear on it... that I would've just picked him up from behind under his armpits and held him up against this fence for you know half a second or thirty seconds or so while he had a look at the diggers.
'I guess yeah we finished having a look at the, the guys digging there... and then we both, we both went off.'
John Price, QC, prosecuting, said: 'Never having previously given an account of this meeting which comes even close to explaining how DNA of his should have been found on the dead boy's clothes, why on of April 19, 2016 was Mr Watson able to put forward an answer to that crucial question before it had even been asked of him?'
Prosecutors claim Watson, pictured, saw an episode of Crimewatch featuring the investigation which revealed the existence of 'scientific evidence'
Prosecutors claimed Watson had changed his statements to police between 1994 and 2015
Prosecutors claim Watson's assertion that he had lifted up Rikki to peer over a fence was incorrect as there was no fence at the location in November 1994
During a previous interview the same day, Watson was asked what he may have seen or read about the new investigation.
He told police he had watched a recent TV feature on the case, broadcast on BBC Crimewatch.
'If the person who strangled and stripped Rikki Neave watched it, he will have heard DCI Waite speaking about the new investigation,' Mr Price said.
