The longest night of their lives

IT WAS the moment they had dreaded most, when despair finally gave way to terrible grief. But the moment when the parents of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells were told that police may have found their daughters’ graves was only the beginning.

In what they described as the longest night of their lives, they spent an agonising 13 hours confronting the horror they had frantically pushed to the back of their minds.

Frightened, numb and fearing the worst, they kept an all-night vigil in their homes in Soham, less than ten miles from where police were searching for their daughters’ bodies in a wooded copse on Warren Hill, near Newmarket on Tuesday. No-one slept, no-one ate. Instead, they paced the floor, drank coffee and paced the floor again. Surrounded by their extended families, they were silent or spoke in hushed tones. Holly’s father, Kevin, 38, described Tuesday night and Wednesday morning as "an incredible roller-coaster" while Jessica’s parents said it was a "tense and traumatic night".

It wasn’t until 4am yesterday morning - 11 hours after the grim news was broken to them - that they were told nothing had been found in one of the earth mounds. Two hours later, it was confirmed that both mounds had "nothing to do with the disappearance of Jessica and Holly". They turned out to be badger setts.

Yesterday, Holly’s grandmother, Agnes Wells, 61, from Coatbridge in Lanarkshire, broke down in tears as she described their "horrific" ordeal. "They were dead. We were all in tears. It was just horrific. It was one of the longest nights of my life. Just imagine if your grandchild was dead. Last night, they were dead but this morning we have a little hope."

Throughout the girls’ disappearance, Jessica and Holly’s parents have been described as "bearing up" and "coping well". But Mrs Wells knew otherwise. "They are doing well really but deep down they are doing badly," she said.

Jessica’s parents, Leslie, 51, and Sharon, 43, admitted that the ordeal had taken its toll.

"We were frustrated by the length of time it took although we do understand the need to preserve a possible crime scene," they said in a statement yesterday.

Their "tremendous relief" on hearing the news they had longed for, however, was brief respite. The girls were still missing. They had lived through the worst night, but, what now?

When Mrs Chapman was told, in the early hours of Wednesday morning, her exhausted response was: "So, it’s not Jessica. Where are they?"

As the investigation shifted its focus away from Newmarket and back into the centre of Soham, Cambridgeshire, yesterday, no-one had an answer to that question.

Detective Sergeant Chris Mead, the family liaison officer for the Wells, described them as "emotionally drained but relieved. Their worst fears were not confirmed - but it puts them back where they were before."

Detective Superintendent David Beck, the officer leading the inquiry, who issued his second - and most dramatic - "one-to-one" appeal to their possible abductor yesterday, said that he remained personally convinced that the girls were still alive.

He had a duty, he said, to protect life, under the Human Rights Act and the European Convention of Human Rights. But the second and more important reason for his belief, was "the real desire that we have got to bring these children back alive. I, David Beck, still believe those children are still alive."

In the absence of any evidence to the contrary, he said, he would continue in that assumption.

It was an optimism shared by Holly and Jessica’s parents.

"For them to be told that the girls had not been found dead has allowed them to continue in their hope and belief that Jessica and Holly are still alive and they will be returned to them very soon," said Mr Mead.

Telling Holly’s parents on Tuesday, including her 12-year old brother, Oliver, that police may have found her grave, was the "toughest" job in his career.

But the few leads that Cambridgeshire police have gathered over the last few days were dwindling fast. Police have all but discounted a previous priority line of inquiry - the search for the driver of the green car, seen close to the area of Soham where the girls were last seen. While taxi driver Ian Webster reported seeing a man driving erratically while "thrashing" around with what looked like two children aboard at about 7pm, it now turns out that he actually saw the car an hour earlier than he had thought. After interviewing one of Mr Webster’s passengers, who told them of a mobile phone call made in the taxi, they were able to determine that the green car sighting was actually at 6.01pm, an hour and 20 minutes before Holly and Jessica were last seen.

The 9,000-strong community, which has borne the agony of Holly and Jessica’s disappearance along with their families, woke up this morning to the news that the worst they have had to endure in the last ten days was now over.

Local butcher, Pat Wyncoll, 62, described the effect of the last few days as having "ripped the heart out of Soham".

"I suppose it’s a good thing that the police haven’t found anything at Warren Hill but then we are back to square one. "

Mary Challis, 71, a retired cleaner who knows Holly’s parents, said: "We are walking around like zombies. Everywhere you look, there are pictures of the girls."

The girls’ families are determined not to give up hope. "We were obviously fearing the worst," Mr Wells said. "But we are still here to carry on the fight and while there’s a glimmer of hope we shall carry on."

NEW LEADS: POLICE EXPLORE ALL OPTIONS

SUNDAY, 4 AUGUST After enjoying a family barbecue, the girls are reported missing by Holly’s parents at 8:30pm. Numerous sightings, including that of a taxi driver who saw the driver of a green saloon driving erratically and lashing out at two girls, are later reported.

Between 10:40pm and 11:10pm, a jogger out walking his dog at Warren Hill, Newmarket, hears what he describes as "teenagers’ screams".

MONDAY, 5 AUGUST Dawn search begins. About 500 people join police in hunt.

TUESDAY, 6 AUGUST David Beckham appeals for the girls to return home.

Ian Webster, a taxi driver, first contacts police.

Jogger who heard screams on Sunday night goes to police.

WEDNESDAY, 7 AUGUST Mr Webster is first interviewed by police, in Wales. . Police admit that the girls may have been abducted.

THURSDAY, 8 AUGUST Police release last CCTV pictures of the girls.

FRIDAY, 9 AUGUST Mr Webster contacts police again, as detectives follow leads gleaned from Holly’s computer.

SATURDAY, 10 AUGUST Reconstruction of Holly and Jessica’s last known movements .

SUNDAY, 11 AUGUST Families attend prayer service.

Mr Webster interviewed by a detective .

MONDAY, 12 AUGUST Police reveal possible sighting of the girls being kidnapped. They say a taxi driver saw a motorist grappling with two children as he swerved across the A142 south of Soham, just after the girls went missing.

Hunt moves to Newmarket, where the mystery driver was headed.

TUESDAY, 13 AUGUST Mr Webster denies he was responsible for any delay in following up what could be vital information in the search. At 4:25pm, police accompany jogger to Warren Hill, where he had earlier discovered what appeared to be shallow graves.

At 6:45pm, police release details about the discovery of the disturbed earth.

WEDNESDAY, 14 AUGUST After working into the early hours of the morning, police make preliminary examinations of the two patches of newly-turned earth. Later in the morning, Det Chief Insp Andy Hebb says the searches found no connection with the disappearance of Holly and Jessica.

At 6pm, Det Sup David Beck makes a televised appeal stating that a hotline has been set up for any abductor of the pair to call him in person. He sets a deadline of midnight on Thursday.