On Boxing Day evening in 1996, best friends Patrick Warren and David Spencer left their Chelmsley Wood homes to play outside. Patrick left on his brand-new bicycle, which had been a Christmas present, while David was on foot.

The boys had been spotted by a police officer earlier that afternoon playing with another group of children in Meriden Park, where they had been warned by the officer not to play on the frozen pond.

After returning home, they told their parents of their plans to visit one of Patrick's brothers that evening.

Derek Warren,  ...