Police reveal horror of bodies in ditch

THE bodies of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were found in a "severely decomposed and skeletonised" state at the bottom of a ditch in a remote area of woodland, the inquest into their deaths heard yesterday.

Details of the condition in which the girls’ bodies were found provided the first public explanation of why it had taken so long positively to identify the pair.

The inquest heard that the ten-year-olds were almost certainly killed elsewhere before their bodies were taken to Suffolk and dumped in the ditch near RAF Lakenheath.

The inquest took place amid growing concern over the vilification of murder suspect Ian Huntley, 28, and his girlfriend Maxine Carr, 25, who is in custody charged with perverting the course of justice.

Earlier this week, an angry mob attacked the van carrying Carr to court and yesterday Huntley’s parents revealed they had been forced to leave their jobs and their home because of the strength of feeling whipped up against them.

Lawyers have expressed fears that it could be difficult for Huntley - who has already been sacked from his job - and Carr to receive a fair trial because of the level of detail about their lives made public since they were arrested in the early hours of last Saturday morning.

Martin Smith, a media specialist lawyer based in Glasgow, said: "I can’t see how they could ever have a fair trial. As a lawyer I would say it has got completely out of hand."

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Hebb told David Morris, the Cambridgeshire coroner, he was as certain as he could be that the deaths of the two girls had not taken place at the spot where they were found.

The coroner said his records showed that the bodies of Jessica and Holly were discovered at about 12:15pm on 17 August and they were certified dead two hours later by a Home Office pathologist, Dr Nat Cary.

He said: "Dr Cary found on his arrival at the scene, in his words, the two severely decomposed and partially skeletonised bodies lying in the bottom of a ditch."

Tissue samples from the bodies were taken for DNA analysis, which eventually provided a formal identification, although further tests and X-rays are being carried out.

Mr Morris said he had spoken to Leslie and Sharon Chapman, the parents of Jessica, for a long period earlier in the day but Holly’s parents, Kevin and Nicola Wells, had not felt able to meet him.

He said: "Today is a formal occasion and nothing gainsays the tremendous grief which I and my officers feel at the deaths of these two young ten-year-old children."

Later, plans were announced for a memorial service for the girls at Ely Cathedral, with almost 2,000 people attending on a ticket-only basis, in accordance with the wishes of the two families.

Funerals for the two best friends will be held separately and the families have asked for them to be private. The Chapmans have asked for Jessica to be cremated and the Wells family for Holly to be buried.

Carr, 25, was remanded in custody when she appeared before Peterborough magistrates this week and will appear in Peterborough Crown Court on Thursday.

Her boyfriend, college caretaker Huntley, 28, was charged with two counts of murder and detained at Rampton Hospital while psychiatric tests are carried out.

The house he shared with Carr in the grounds of the college will be boarded up and hidden behind a security screen once a police search is completed and will probably be demolished once legal proceedings are finished.

Meanwhile, football fans and players are preparing to hold a minute’s silence before their games over the weekend and it also emerged that the Prince of Wales had written a personal letter of condolence to the families of the girls.

Timetable of events

SUNDAY, 4 AUGUST

Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, both ten, disappear after spending the day playing together.

MONDAY, 5 AUGUST

Extensive search using helicopter and civilian volunteers draws a blank. School caretaker Ian Huntley tells of being one of last people to see the girls alive.

TUESDAY, 6 AUGUST

David Beckham appeals for the girls, who were last seen wearing Manchester United replica shirts, to return home.

THURSDAY, 8 AUGUST

Police release CCTV pictures showing the last pictures of the girls.

FRIDAY, 9 AUGUST

Detectives say they believe the girls are still alive and appeal directly to the abductor.

SATURDAY, 10 AUGUST

Two young actresses act out Holly and Jessica’s last known movements in Soham.

MONDAY, 12 AUGUST

Police say a taxi driver saw a motorist in a green car swerving violently, trying to restrain two children as he drove along the A142 south of Soham.

TUESDAY, 13 AUGUST

Fears that two mounds of disturbed earth spotted by a jogger on Newmarket Gallops are the girls’ graves.

WEDNESDAY, 14 AUGUST

After a night of digging, the mounds are discovered to be badger setts.

FRIDAY, 16 AUGUST

Girls’ parents make fresh public appeal for information about their daughters’ disappearance.

Four hours later police announce that Ian Huntley and his girlfriend Maxine Carr, a teaching assistant in Holly and Jessica’s class at St Andrew’s Primary School until the end of last term, are being questioned about the girls’ disappearance. They are taken to separate police stations and a search begins of their home and the Soham Village College.

SATURDAY, 17 AUGUST

Police cordon off home of Kevin Huntley, the father of Ian Huntley, in the village of Littleport, near Soham.

Police announce that two people have been arrested on suspicion of murdering Holly and Jessica.

Two bodies found near the village of Lakenheath, seven miles from Soham.

SUNDAY, 18 AUGUST

Police granted 36-hour extension to question Huntley and Carr. Girls’ bodies removed to Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge for forensic examination.

TUESDAY, 20 AUGUST

Huntley charged with murdering both girls and sectioned under the Mental Health Act. He is taken to Rampton secure mental hospital in Nottinghamshire for up to 28 days of medical tests to ascertain whether he is fit to stand trial.

Carr charged with perverting the course of justice and held in custody overnight.

WEDNESDAY, 21 AUGUST Carr appears in court for brief hearing and remanded in custody. During violent scenes on the streets outside, women unveil sign which reads "Rot in hell forever" and some chant "a life for a life".

FRIDAY, 23 AUGUST

Inquest into deaths of Holly and Jessica opened and adjourned at Cambridgeshire hall. Coroner David Morris told that bodies were badly decomposed and had almost certainly been dumped after killing. He criticises newspaper offers of rewards for information.

Parents of Ian Huntley reveal that they have left their jobs and home in Littleport after protests from residents. Calls for the house where Huntley lived with Carr to be demolished.