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The Holly Wells/Jessica Chapman Case

Sunday August 4
Soham, Cambridgeshire UK
The two girls vanished from their sleepy English town of Soham, 30 kilometres northeast of Cambridge, on August 4, prompting fears that they had been abducted.
After attending a football match, 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman left Holly's Soham house at 5.35pm wearing Red Manchester United No 7 shirts and dark trousers and white nikes. They were seen an hour later in the main street of the villiage. They have not been seen since.
<Monday August 5- Friday August 9 ?>

Saturday August 10 | The Courier-Mail p 24
The search for missing 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman yesterday became the biggest manhunt in British history. More than 250 police were looking for the girls who have been missing since Sunday.
Sunday August 11 | The Sunday Mail p51
Police Plea 'Spare these little girls'
The major concern at that stage was content on the girls computers, and pleading with the abductors to return them.
Monday August 12 | The Courier-Mail p 15
Leads dry up from computer.
The girls did not chat to anyone online prior to disappearing.
Tuesday August 13 | The Courier-Mail p 11
Grave Hunt fails to Find Girls
A night long forensic examination of 'The Gallops' woods turned up no clues.
Tuesday August 13
New missing girls Clue | News Interactive & Agence France-Presse Peter Kononczuk
BRITISH police hunting for two 10-year-old girls missing for more than a week said today a witness saw a driver apparently struggling with two children near the spot the pair were last seen. The sighting appeared to be a potential breakthrough in a search involving 300 officers for Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, an inquiry which has dominated British press headlines for days.
A taxi driver told police he had seen a motorist driving a dark saloon south of Soham that evening. He was "thrashing" his arms around inside the car and swerving. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Hebb told reporters at a press conference: "I think it's an important, significant line of inquiry. I hope it's a breakthrough."
"As he (the taxi driver) closed upon the vehicle he saw what he believed to be a child in the front passenger seat and another in the back of the car."
The taxi driver, who followed the suspicious vehicle for several minutes, was now being re-interviewed along with his passengers, Hebb said, adding that there had been several other sightings of a similar dark car in Soham. Police searching for the girls originally thought they had run away, but later shifted their focus to the idea that they may have been kidnapped, possibly by a paedophile, and believe they are still alive but being kept against their will. Detectives earlier said they were not ruling out the theory that the pair had been abducted by someone who had befriended them earlier, perhaps after meeting them over the Internet. On Sunday police in the Cambridge region of central England began to question registered paedophiles from their records.
A total of 266 were to be quizzed at first, before the search was to be widened to cover the whole country. Three defence ministry staff have been assigned to help log calls from the public offering information. More than 7,500 have been received so far. Officers were also looking further afield and set up alerts at all ports as part of investigations into whether the girls could have been taken abroad. Pictures of the two missing girls, who were wearing distinctive red Manchester United shirts, as sported by the team's star player David Beckham, have filled the British media, while Beckham himself made an appeal for the pair's safe return. In a television interview to be aired late Monday, Kevin Wells, father of missing Holly, says he knew immediately that the girls had been abducted.
In excerpts of the interview released in advance, he says the parents had discussed with police a scenario in which the two girl could have got into a car without creating any fuss. "The obvious answer is that one of the girls knew the parties involved," Wells says. Officers have confirmed the two girls used Wells' computer for 24 minutes just one hour before they disappeared. Detectives have said there is no sign the girls were emailing or contacting anyone via chatrooms on that day, although they have not ruled out earlier contacts. Two men arrested in Cambridgeshire on Friday night and Saturday morning after failing to co-operate with the police investigation were both released without charge. Parental abduction, the cause of 40 percent of missing-children cases in Britain, is not suspected.
Wednesday August 14
A large sign with a missing persons number was placed at the side of the football pitch on Wednesday night so it could be seen by BBC viewers as Manchester United played Zalaerszeg. David Beckham pleaded for the safe return of Holly & Jessica.
Thursday August 15
Call me, cop urges kidnapper | News Interactive
POLICE have set up a special telephone line and urged the presumed abductor of two 10-year-old English girls to call up the detective leading the hunt to find them.
Thursday August 15
Police Plead for Girls by phone | Ananova
Missing girls: detective's plea | News Interactive & Agence France-Presse
Detective Superintendent David Beck, of Cambridgeshire police, set a deadline of midnight Thursday (UK time) for the kidnapper - or kidnappers - of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman to ring. "It is giving these people, if they are more than one, an opportunity to have a one-to-one direct link contact with me before midnight tomorrow," Beck said as the hunt for the girls went through its 10th day. The number was sent out as a voice mail and a text message to the mobile phone that Jessica was carrying with her. Holly and Jessica vanished on August 4 from their home in Soham, a quiet market town northeast of Cambridge. They were last seen out walking in red Manchester United tops, not long after logging onto the internet. Beck said he still believed the girls were alive, after a painstaking overnight search in a nearby woods - where a jogger found what appeared to be shallow graves - turned up nothing. "There are still two girls out there who I believe to be alive," Beck said. The case has gripped Britain's attention two years after eight-year-old Sarah Payne was kidnapped, killed and buried in a shallow grave in the south of England. A known child sex abuser was later convicted in the case.
Friday August 16, 16:00
Missing girls police make 'major breakthrough' | Ananova
A man and woman, aged 28 and 25, are giving statements to police hunting the missing Soham schoolgirls. Detectives say it is a major development in the inquiry. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Hebb said that a search was about to begin of the couple's house in the girls' home village of Soham "for any evidence that may point to the whereabouts of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman."
The police will also be searching Soham College, Mr Hebb said. The news was announced at a hastily arranged news conference at the college. The possible breakthrough came 12 days after the two ten-year-olds vanished after walking through the village.
Friday August 16, 23:00
Couple no longer questioned over Soham girls | Ananova
A couple being questioned in relation to the two missing Soham girls have given witness statements and are no longer with police. A search is being carried out the house of Ian Huntley, 28, and Maxine Carr, 25, as it is one of the last places Holly and Jessica were seen. Mr Huntley has been a witness in the investigation from day one after telling how he saw the girls on the day they vanished. A few days later he wept as he recalled to reporters how he had seen them when he was washing his dog outside his house.
The school caretaker and his girlfriend - a former teaching assistant at the girls' school - left separate police stations after giving seven-hour witness statements. Mr Huntley has been the site manager at Soham Village College for the past nine months. Cambridgeshire police said the couple agreed to be questioned and had been treated as "significant witnesses". Earlier, Mr Huntley told reporters he could not believe Holly and Jessica had disappeared.
He said: "I just saw them for a few minutes. They were as happy as Larry. They haven't run away. They didn't have a care in the world. I must have been one of the last people to speak to them."
"It seems they have just disappeared off the face of the earth. How can two girls go missing in broad daylight, then nothing? No sighting. No nothing. It beggars belief."
His girlfriend, who failed to get a full-time teaching post at the girls' school after being a teaching assistant, said last week: "On the last day of school Holly gave me a card with a smiley face on the front and a poem inside. She was crying because I didn't get the job."
Saturday August 17 - 08:57 AM
UK couple quizzed over missing girls | Yahoo News
British police questioned Friday a couple in their 20s, and began a search of their home, over the disappearance and suspected abduction of 10-year-old girls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman nearly two weeks ago. British news media identified the couple as Ian Huntley, 28, a caretaker at Soham Village College, and his partner Maxine Carr, 25, who was a teaching assistant in the girls' class at Saint Andrews Primary School. Police stressed, however, that the couple's possible connection with the disappearance was just one of several leads that they were pursuing, in one of the biggest missing persons' cases ever in Britain.
In an interview earlier Friday on British television, Huntley said he perhaps the last person to see the girls before they disappeared on August 4 in their hometown of Soham, northeast of Cambridge.
Nine police officers were seen by reporters Friday evening going into the couple's plain-looking two-storey home, which was cordoned off with blue-and-white plastic tape, to begin a thorough search.
"It may continue throughout the weekend," police superintendent Simon Edens, the search coordinator, told reporters as a surveillance helicopter -- believed to be fitted with thermal imaging gear -- rattled overhead.
Police said they would also search the primary school and Soham Village College, where Huntley reportedly started work last December or January.Edens said that the questioning of the couple, at an undisclosed location outside Soham, but within Cambridgeshire county, was "only one of a number of lines of inquiry."
"Our priority is the safe recovery of Holly and Jessica," he said.
Speaking on GMTV, a British morning television channel, earlier Friday, Huntley said he felt "gutted" that the girls were missing.
"It doesn't help the fact that I was one of the last people to speak to them, if not the last person to speak to them," he said. "I keep re-living that conversation and thinking perhaps something different could've been said, perhaps kept them here a little longer and maybe changed events."
Asked if he still had hope for the girls, Huntley replied: "Yes, yes."
Sunday August 18
Couple Suspected Of Girls' Murder | Sunday Telegraph By Leo Schlink
THE hunt for missing 10-year-old schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman ended in tragedy yesterday when a school caretaker and his fiancee – the girls' former teacher – were arrested on suspicion of murder and abduction.
The arrests sparked a massive search of the Soham Village Secondary College, where police found "items of major interest to our inquiry" within a few hundred metres of Holly and Jessica's homes. The bodies of the girls had not been found last night. The two friends, both wearing bright red Manchester United shirts and distinctive necklaces, disappeared two weeks ago, triggering one of the largest police hunts in British history. The ordeal ended at 4am yesterday when Ian Huntley, 28, and Maxine Carr, 25, were arrested. Huntley is a caretaker at Soham Village Secondary College.
Carr worked as a part-time teaching assistant in Holly and Jessica's class at St Andrew's Primary School. The pair had been voluntarily interviewed for several hours at separate police stations in Cambridgshire, north of London, on Friday before being released without being charged. They had earlier given a string of interviews to media outlets after Huntley had told townspeople the girls had visited his house on the evening they disappeared. Police swooped before dawn yesterday after reviewing evidence given by the couple. Holly and Jessica's devastated parents were informed immediately. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Hebb refused to elaborate on developments as police continued to search the house shared by Huntley and Carr. Police also began a search of Huntley's father Kevin's house, 24km from Soham.
Officers working on the case had been adamant the pretty young girls were still alive as recently as Friday night when the girls' parents continued to pray their daughters would be found alive. A meeting on Thursday night organised by police and Soham residents – including Carr and Huntley – is believed to have produced the vital clue that led police to formally interview the couple. By Friday night, teams of specialised police search teams were drafted in and, ominously, a helicopter hovered over Soham Village Secondary College as officers took grid photographs ahead of a subsequent ground search. DCI Hebb has long maintained "the final piece of the jigsaw" would be found in Soham, despite fears that convicted pedophiles had abducted the girls. Holly and Jessica were last seen on closed circuit television walking past a leisure centre – only metres from Carr and Huntley's home – despite reports placing them elsewhere. Carr and Huntley had established what is now suspected to be a perversely false profile after British and international media had descended on Soham, a sleepy village of 8500 where most people are on a first-name basis with their neighbours. In one of several media interviews, Carr had talked of her relationship with Holly and her friend Jessica. She said Jessica had been on holiday for the last week of term but Holly – on the last day of school – had given her a farewell card and a box of chocolates after Carr had missed out on a full-time job.
"Holly gave me a card with a smiley face on the front and a poem inside," Carr said. "Holly was crying that I didn't get the job." Carr described Holly and Jessica as "nice, bright kids". "Jessica is more of a tomboy type," she said. "She loves playing football and swimming. You didn't often see Jessica wearing a skirt. She always seemed to wear trousers. "She would say, 'When you get married, I want to be your bridesmaid. I will even wear a dress.' "Holly's more feminine. She's a lovely girl. She's very bright."

Sunday August 18, 06:29 AM
Bodies found in search for missing girls | Yahoo News
Police hunting for missing schoolgirls Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells today found two bodies near the village of Mildenhall, Suffolk. Cambridgeshire Police could not confirm that the bodies were those of the missing 10-year-olds, a spokesman said. The discovery came almost 12 hours after school caretaker Ian Huntley, 28, and his girlfirend Maxine Carr, 25, were arrested by police searching for the girls. Huntley, who reported talking to the girls on the night they vanished, is being held on suspicion of abducting and murdering the best friends.
His girlfriend Maxine Carr, 25, a teaching assistant in the girls' class last term, was arrested on suspicion of murdering the pair. Huntley has been a part of the investigation since day one, having reported seeing the girls on the night they vanished. He told police they had walked past his house as he was washing his dog, and has said on more than one occasion:
"I must have been one of the last people to see them alive."
Carr, who knew the girls, joined in the appeals to find them, posing for pictures with a card Holly had given her on the last day of term. Police have until early tomorrow morning to decide whether to charge the couple or extend their time in custody.

Sunday August 18, 1:49 PM
Bodies linked to missing British girls found | ABC - NewsMail
British police searching for two missing schoolgirls say two bodies have been found by a person out walking, near a Royal Air Force base about 10 kilometres from where the girls disappeared. Just near the giant Lakeham Heath RAF base, through a pine forest, the bodies were found. Aircraft and helicopters were overhead, this was a discovery no-one wanted to make. A man in tears arrived with flowers, for this has traumatised not just a community, but a nation. Soham's Methodist Minister Alan Ashton says the wait to find out the
girls' fate has been devastating.
"The time is going to be amassed in our real depth of grief as it tries to cope with yet another swing in emotion that's extremely wide... our heartfelt sympathies of course go to the families," he said.
The girls' school headmaster, Geoff Fisher, says everyone is very upset about their disappearance particularly their parents.
"It's affected me deeply as it has everybody in Soham," Mr Fisher said.
"My heart goes out to Sharon and Les and to Kevin and Nicola, I've known them a long time and I can't image what they're going through. "I've been a head for 21-years, but nothing can prepare you for an incident like this," he said.
One woman from Soham summed up the town's feeling.
"Dreadful, dreadful, I think it's hit everybody.... I didn't know them personally, but just to think that something like this can happen in your own time. It brings it home to you doesn't it," she said.
Monday August 19, 09:03am
British police granted extra time to question murder suspects | ABC - NewsMail
British police have been granted extra time to question two people arrested on suspicion of murdering two 10-year-old schoolgirls. The extension was granted as police announced that they are as certain as they can be that two bodies found in Suffolk are those of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, who vanished a fortnight ago. Police say it may be some days before the bodies of the two girls are positively identified but are nonetheless convinced that they have found their remains. The bodies are due to be moved from the woodland site where they were dumped to a Cambridgeshire hospital for further forensic tests. Police have been granted a 36-hour extension to the time they are allowed to continue questioning two people known to the girls, who have been arrested on suspicion of murder. The extension was granted as 28-year-old school caretaker Ian Huntley and his partner, 25-year-old former teaching assistant Maxine Carr, appeared at separate closed hearings before magistrates. The search for evidence is continuing at several sites in and around the village of Soham where the girls lived.
Monday 19 August
Bodies almost certainly girls' | NewsPulse & Associated Press Ed Johnson in London.
TWO bodies found in woodland almost certainly belong to missing 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, British detectives have confirmed. Today's announcement brings to a chilling end the two-week search that has transfixed Britain since the girls disappeared from their rural hometown of Soham, near Cambridge, on August 4.
"It may be some days yet before we are able to positively identify the two bodies," said Deputy Chief Constable Keith Hoddy outside the town's Church of St Andrew, where hundreds of residents had gathered earlier in the day to pray for the girls and their families. "However, we are as certain as we possibly can be tonight (UK time) that they are those of Holly and Jessica."
He said the girls' parents had been told the news, before calling for a moment of silence as a mark of respect. Police signalled yesterday that they had given up hope of finding Holly and Jessica alive when they arrested two people on suspicion of murder. The anguish in the children's close-knit community grew a few hours later when detectives said they had discovered the two bodies in a wooded area alongside a dirt path in a nature reserve 11km away. Despite police declining to reveal details, including the ages and sex of the dead, residents feared the worst and left floral tributes outside the church and near the woods.
"May you rest in peace. God bless you and your families," read a message attached to one bouquet.
Following a brief court hearing, a magistrate granted police a further 36 hours to question a 28-year-old man, arrested on suspicion of murder and abduction, and a 25-year-old woman arrested on suspicion of murder. Police have not released the suspects' names, but news reports have identified them as Ian Huntley, a caretaker at the local secondary school, and his partner Maxine Carr, a former teaching assistant who worked with Holly and Jessica's primary school class until July. Police can apply for a further 24 hours, after which they must either be released or charged. Detectives would not say publicly whether Huntley and Carr were the suspects, but have searched their home, which stands on the grounds of the girls' primary school, and the school where Huntley worked. News reports said that until they were taken in for questioning, Huntley and Carr had been eager participants in the search for Holly and Jessica. Huntley reportedly told officers shortly after the hunt began that he had seen the girls just before they vanished, when they walked past his house as he washed his dog. He emotionally recounted his story for journalists and the television cameras.
"I must have been one of the last people to see them alive," he told reporters.
Carr told the media she would always keep a card Holly had drawn for her on the last day of school.
Monday 19 August | The Courier-Mail Front Page & p9
Couple Arrested
A teacher and her boyfriend have been arrested for the suspected murder of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.
Monday 19 August
Tragic End To Hunt For Girls: Police Statement | Sky News
Police have confirmed that two bodies discovered in Suffolk are those of the missing schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.
Here is the full statement from Keith Hoddy, Deputy Chief Constable of Cambridgeshire Police, who spoke in Soham:
"It is with great sadness that I have to tell you the following news. "It may be some days yet before we are able to positively identify the two bodies found at Common Drove, near Lakenheath in Suffolk, yesterday lunchtime. "However, we are as certain as we possibly can be tonight that they are those of Holly and Jessica. Terrible news "Holly and Jessica's families have been told this terrible news. "Before I say anything else, can I suggest that we pause for a moment in silence, in memory of these two little girls and out of respect for their families and their many hundreds of friends." After the silence, he continued: "Holly and Jessica were reported missing on the evening of Sunday, August 4, and since that time a huge effort has been mounted to find them. "We, like the families, refused to give up hope that the girls would be found alive and well. Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to Holly's parents and brother and Jessica's parents and sisters at this ghastly time."
Mr Hoddy went on: "An enormous effort involving hundreds of police officers, supported by civilians, and scores of experts, worked tirelessly to trace the girls, and a sense of sorrow now is felt acutely. "Holly and Jessica's families continue to be supported by trained family liaison officers at this, the bleakest of moments. They are being given every possible support and this support will continue in the days, weeks and months to come."
Mr Hoddy told the assembled media that a man and a woman were under arrest for the murder of Holly and Jessica, with the man also under arrest for abduction.
"They remain in custody this evening and will spend another night at separate police stations in Cambridgeshire," he continued. "Because legal proceedings are active I am unable to say anything more about this line of the inquiry. "Now is a time for quiet contemplation. It is a time to respect the grief of Holly's and Jessica's families and I ask that you respect their need for privacy."
Tuesday, August 20
In pictures: Best friends Holly and Jessica
Tuesday, August 20
Post-mortem 'inconclusive' on schoolgirl bodies | ABC News 20/8/2002
Police in Britain have carried out post-mortem examinations on two bodies believed to be those of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells, who went missing more than a fortnight ago. However, the examinations of the 10-year-old schoolgirls have been inconclusive, failing to reveal the cause of death. Further tests are to be carried out on the bodies which could take as long as several weeks to complete. The post-mortems were conducted by a British Home Office pathologist after the bodies were found by walkers in a remote part of Suffolk over the weekend. Police have continued to maintain they are as certain as they can be that the bodies are those of Jessica and Holly although they say formal identification could take some days. Detectives are continuing to question two suspects arrested on suspicion of murder - 28-year-old school caretaker Ian Huntley and his 25-year-old partner Maxine Carr, who was a teaching assistant in the girls' classroom. The courts are allowing the police about another six hours to decide whether to lay charges or release the suspects although the police are entitled to apply for a final 24-hour extension.
Tuesday, August 20
Post-mortem on girls' bodies 'inconclusive' | Yahoo News & AAP 20/8
A post-mortem examination on two bodies believed to be the missing English schoolgirls did not determine the exact cause of death, police say.
Tuesday, August 20
Police statement in full | BBC News
Detective Chief Inspector Andy Hebb announced on Tuesday that school caretaker Ian Huntley, 28, had been charged with the murder of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. Here is his statement in full.
"I have the following update for you regarding the ongoing investigation into the murder of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells. "In the early hours of this morning 28-year-old Ian Huntley, from Soham, who was arrested in the early hours of Saturday morning, underwent the last of a series of medical examinations which had taken place since his arrest. "Upon a psychiatrist's recommendation, Ian Huntley was detained under the Mental Health Act 1983. "At around 2am today he was transferred from police custody to a secure unit where he will undergo further assessment."Following lengthy discussions with the Crown Prosecution Service in Cambridgeshire, I can tell you that in the last hour detectives from the force have driven to the secure unit and have charged Ian Huntley with two counts of murder. "He has been charged with the murder of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells. "His case is listed to be heard at Peterborough Magistrates Court tomorrow morning. "At this stage I do not know whether he will appear in person. "The 25-year-old woman who was also arrested on Saturday in connection with the murder of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells remains in police custody this evening and questioning continues.
"It is anticipated that a decision about her continued detention will be made in the coming few hours."
Wednesday August 21
Caretaker charged | The UK Telegraph Sean O'Neill and David Sapsted
Ian Huntley was charged last night with murdering Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, the 10-year-old school friends whose bodies were found near an air base a fortnight after they disappeared.
Wednesday August 21
Caretaker charged with girls' murders | Ninemsn & AFP
Police have charged high school caretaker Ian Huntley, 28, with the murder of 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, whose disappearance triggered one of the biggest missing persons' investigations in British criminal history. Huntley's partner Maxine Carr, 25, a teaching assistant, remained in custody for questioning, and a decision on whether to charge her could be made shortly, Cambridgeshire detective chief inspector Andy Hebb said. Huntley was being held under Britain's Mental Health Act in a "secure unit" on the recommendation of a psychiatrist, after a number of medical examinations following his arrest, Hebb said.
"I can tell you that in the last hour, detectives from the force have driven to the secure unit and have charged Ian Huntley with two counts of murder," he said in a brief statement. "He has been charged with the murder of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells."
The Rampton high-security mental hospital in Nottinghamshire confirmed that "a 28-year-old man" was admitted today "for assessment" following concerns about his fitness to be questioned by Cambridgeshire police. Huntley and Carr were arrested Saturday just hours before the girls' bodies were found in a public forest outside a US air force base at Lakenheath, not far from their hometown of Soham, north-east of Cambridge. Huntley was also arrested on suspicion of abduction, but in his statement Hebb made no mention of that offence. Late on Monday magistrates granted police a second but final extension to detain Huntley and Carr, giving detectives more time to question the couple at the centre of a crime that has gripped British public attention. It also allowed forensic officers to keep scouring the couple's home in Soham, the high school where Huntley worked as a caretaker, and the pine forest where the girls' bodies were found.
The police looked for clues - as small as a hair or a dried spot of sweat - that could be used in DNA tests to determine what might have happened to Holly and Jessica after they were last seen August 4 out walking in red Manchester United soccer jerseys.
Police with sniffer dogs also searched the home of Huntley's father in Littleport, near Soham, though he has not been identified as a suspect. The girls' bodies remained in a hospital morgue, pending more examination by a Home Office pathologist and formal identification - leaving their families to wait in agony before they can go ahead with a funeral. The disappearance of Holly and Jessica - widely portrayed as best friends from good middle-class homes in a sleepy English country town - triggered one of the biggest missing persons' cases in British criminal history.
Huntley, a caretaker at Soham Village College, and Carr, a teaching assistant at Holly and Jessica's primary school, appeared separately on Monday night at special closed-door hearings in Cambridgeshire.
At Saint Andrews Church in Soham, floral tributes for Holly and Jessica continued to pour in today, with bouquets stretched along all the pathways in the churchyard. Some 8,000 messages of condolences from around the world have been posted on an internet site set up by Cambridgeshire police.
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Wednesday August 21
Caretaker's partner remanded over deaths | The UK Telegraph
Maxine Carr has been remanded in custody for eight days after her lawyer failed to make an application for bail this morning. Carr, 25, who is accused of attempting to pervert the course of justice in connection with the murder of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, was remanded by the Peterborough Magistrates Court at 11am this morning. Specifically, she was charged with giving false information to police officers between August 9 and 18. Carr will next appear before Peterborough Crown Court on Thursday, August 29, to answer the charge. As she arrived at the court at 9.30am, Carr was heckled by a crowd of about 250 people, who screamed and jeered as the van pulled in, shouting obscenities and shaking their fists. Blankets were used to shield her face from photographers and onlookers.
About 30 police officers lined the street keeping the mob back, with one officer warning people before Carr arrived: "It may be hard to hold back but please don't step onto the road. The police vehicle will not stop for anybody." Mother-of-six Dawn Collins, 53, of Peterborough, said: "I got up this morning and decided to come down to be with people who are feeling the same."I find it so hard to come to terms with it, that those two little girls are gone.
"It's taken over my life," said Miss Collins, whose children are aged between 17 and 34. "I can't seem to get on with anything. It's really hard."
Nicola Jeffries, 32, had come to the court with her sons Rhys, 8 and Haydn, 4. Mrs Jeffries, also from Peterborough, said: "I'm here because I'm a mother and I can't imagine what those parents are going through.
"I'm here to support those two girls and their families. Since it happened, my two children are not allowed out. We've got to be with them 24/7."
Carr'sboyfriend, 28-year-old school caretaker Ian Huntley, was yesterday charged with the murder of the two girls. He is not due in court today as he is undergoing psychiatric assessment at a secure hospital. Huntley was detained under the 1983 Mental Health Act in the early hours of yesterday morning after undergoing a series of medical examinations since his arrest on Saturday. His case will be listed in court "when he is deemed fit to attend", a Cambridgeshire Police spokeswoman said. The parents of the two girls are still waiting to hear how their daughters died after a postmortem examination proved inconclusive. The bodies of the best friends were found by walkers at a Suffolk beauty spot on Saturday, almost two weeks after they vanished from Soham wearing identical Manchester United football shirts.
Police are still searching the site where the bodies were found, along with the home of Huntley and Carr, and the primary and secondary schools where he worked. Teams were also scouring the home of Huntley's parents, Kevin and Lynda, in the village of Littleport.

Wednesday August 21
Huntley Charged | BBC News
School caretaker Ian Huntley has been charged with the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. The 28-year-old was also sectioned under the Mental Health Act 1983 in the early hours of Tuesday and moved to Rampton high security hospital in Nottinghamshire. Detectives drove to Rampton late on Tuesday afternoon to formally charge him with the murders. His girlfriend Maxine Carr, 25, a classroom assistant, has been charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Her charge was announced just before 2200 BST on Tuesday, and she has been remanded in custody pending an appearance at Peterborough Magistrates Court on Wednesday morning. Mr Huntley was also listed to appear in court, but doctors have ruled he is not fit to appear in person. His case will be listed "when he is deemed fit to attend", a Cambridgeshire Police spokeswoman said. The couple were arrested on Saturday, 17 August, almost two weeks after the 10-year-olds went missing from their homes in Soham, Cambridgeshire. Two bodies believed to be those of the little girls were discovered later that day, in a remote patch of woodland near RAF Lakenheath in Midenhall, in Suffolk.
In a statement, Rampton hospital said Mr Huntley was admitted "after concerns were expressed regarding his fitness to be interviewed by Cambridgeshire Police". Mr Huntley lived with Ms Carr in Soham and was site manager at Soham College.
Maxine Carr was the girls' teaching assistant. Ms Carr had been employed as a teacher's aide at Holly and Jessica's school, St Andrew's Primary. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Hebb said Mr Huntley's sectioning took place on the recommendation of a psychiatrist. Sectioning means that doctors have been given the right to detain him for 28 days to assess his condition.
They also have the right to give him medication or other treatment without his consent. After that 28-day period he could be released from the secure unit - or doctors could apply for another court order to detain him for up to 28 days. He could, however, still be ruled fit to stand trial for murder. In cases like this defendants can still be found guilty of murder, or guilty of manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility, or acquitted.
A post-mortem has so far proved "inconclusive" on how the girls died, and police have said it might be some time before the cause of is established or they are formally identified. Officers are still searching Soham College, the couple's house and the home of Ian Huntley's father Kevin, in nearby Littleport. About 14,000 messages of condolence from the public have already been sent to a special website set up in memory of Holly and Jessica. Hundreds of mourners are still placing flowers, candles and cards at Soham's St Andrew's Church and elsewhere.

Wednesday August 21
Thousands express online condolences
Online book will eventually sit alongside one in church
Thousands of surfers have left messages at an online book of condolence for people wishing to express sympathy to the families of murdered British schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.
The website - www.sohamtragedy.org.uk - has been set up by Cambridgeshire County Council and Cambridgeshire Police to give members of the public who have followed the tragic events in Soham an outlet for their feelings. More than 14,000 messages had been sent from around the world by 1630 BST on Tuesday.
Tributes have come from as far away as Australia, Israel and Zimbabwe. Other messages were from Iceland, Bahrain, Dubai, Brazil, the US, India - and also one from an oil rig in the North Sea. Once completed, the comments will be transcribed into a permanent memorial to the two children to sit alongside the book of condolence in the local church. One boy's message read: "I'm a 13-year-old boy from Palestine, I heard the dreadful news of the two girls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. "I've been following the latest news every day, hoping that it would turn out well. I feel deeply sorry for them." A man from Jerusalem said: "My wife and I were appalled to learn the news of your terrible loss. We hope and pray that in future you will know no more sorrow." Visitors are invited to leave messages by name or anonymously although it is not possible to read previous comments. Outlet for grief Online books of condolence have become a popular way for people to express grief after traumatic events. One set up shortly after the death of the Queen Mother attracted thousands of visitors. A spokesman for Cambridgeshire County Council said such a book provided an unobtrusive way for people outside of Soham to express sympathy with the community. A message on the site reads: "The authorities of Cambridgeshire, England, have been both touched and overwhelmed with the messages from all over the world sent to the community of Soham. It means a great deal to our community. " The BBC's website for Cambridgeshire also has an online book of condolence. Many of the messages express shock and outrage at the events and offer heartfelt support to the parents of the girls.
Wednesday August 21
Britain mourns after schoolgirl murders | Yahoo News & Reuters 21/8
SOHAM, England - The shockwaves felt from the murder of two 10-year-old British girls radiated on Monday from their home town of Soham to the rest of the country with Prime Minister Tony Blair adding his sympathy.
Wednesday August 21
Schoolgirls' murder suspect may not stand trial | Yahoo News & AFP 21/8
LONDON Ian Huntley, charged with the murders of schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, may never stand trial, the British press said after he was sectioned at a mental hospital. In a dramatic twist to a case that has gripped the nation, Huntley was taken to Rampton high-security mental hospital in the early hours of Tuesday morning shortly before being handed the double murder charge. Police said that the school caretaker, 28, who was due to appear in Peterborough Magistrates Court in central England on Wednesday, would only be in court "when he is deemed fit to attend."
"Will he (Huntley) ever stand trial?" asked The Daily Mail front page which said that he could be considered unfit to stand trial because of his psychiatric state. The paper also raised the possibility that Huntley could stand trial but enter a defence of insanity.
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Thursday 22 August | ABC News 22/8
British police confirm dead girls' identities
Police in Britain have confirmed that two bodies found last weekend in a pine forest in eastern England are those of the missing 10-year-old girls, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. Their remains were found by passers-by on a track not far from the girls' home town of Soham near Cambridge, 13 days after they had disappeared. High school caretaker Ian Huntley has been charged with their murder, and is currently being held at a high-security psychiatric hospital. His girlfriend, Maxine Carr, has also appeared in court on charges of lying to police. Earlier this week, police said they were all but certain the remains where those of Holly and Jessica, whose disappearance triggered one of the biggest searches in British criminal history.