One of the schoolboys accused of killing 11-year-old Alex Meshivili yesterday told a prosecutor that adults were involved in covering up the child’s death in February 2006, court sources said.

The 13-year-old boy told the prosecutor that three adults – relatives of two of his four co-defendants – helped the children dispose of Alex’s body in the Barbouta area near the Tripotamos River. It is not clear if he claimed the 11-year-old’s body was dumped in the river or buried near it.

The schoolboy claims that he and the other four youngsters chased and pushed Alex, causing him to fall and hit his head on a marble step. He alleges that the five boys then hid Alex’s body in an abandoned house before moving it two days later with the help of the three adults.

Sources said that police questioned the adults in the past but they denied involvement in the alleged incident.

The 13-year-old was the first of five youngsters to testify before prosecutor Michalakis Georgiou in Thessaloniki.