[152] On 17 December 2003, they returned a majority verdict of guilty on two counts of murder against Huntley. He was never charged with this offence, but subsequently confessed to this attack in April 2007. He then speculated Huntley's defence counsel may try and argue that he had been confused, commenting: "In that case, they would have to consider [Huntley's] behaviour over the fortnight between the girls' disappearance and their bodies being found. It was not until 8 p.m. that Holly's parents found out she was missing. The family had just arrived home from a sunshine holiday before Jessica rushed round to see her friend at the barbecue at her house. The funeral services for Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were held on consecutive days in September 2002. Holly and Jessica's families still live in Soham. [71], The funeral services for Wells and Chapman were held on consecutive days in September 2002. [181][n 13], Following his arrest, several former girlfriends and sexual partners stated that Huntley presented himself as a charming and considerate man in the early stages of a relationship, but would become domineering and violent upon having established control. [193], Several of Capp's colleagues later remarked how they found her to be a distant and immature figure with few friends or hobbies. Police officers and members of the local . Alfred seldom maintained contact with his wife and children, and refused to provide any financial support for his daughters. [24] A cover from the rear seat was missing, and the lining of the boot had been recently removed and replaced with an ill-fitting section of household carpet. Here, his mental state was assessed by Christopher Clark, a consultant forensic psychiatrist, to determine whether he suffered from any form of mental illness and whether he was mentally competent to stand trial. They have two children together, and Oliver regularly speaks about his sister to keep her memory alive. [171] This complainant stated Huntley had threatened to kill her before assaulting her. Episode 2. [81], The inquest into the children's deaths was held at Shire Hall, Cambridge, on 23 August 2002. Year: 1975. Westwood retired in March 2005. After two months of courtship,[163] Huntley proposed to Evans. [147], Referencing Huntley's likely motive for the murders and his claims at trial that both deaths had been accidental, Latham stated: "We invite you to reject the accounts of both deaths [being accidental] as desperate lies; the only way out for him. None were alive when Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman died on this day 20 years ago . (This suspension was later overturned.) . [164], Despite having few friends, Huntley formed several relationships with girls while attending Immingham Comprehensive. [50], In July 1998, police were notified that Huntley had sexually assaulted an 11-year-old girl in September 1997, having also threatened to kill the child if she informed her mother. "[143], Questioned about the efforts she had made to mislead both police and the media to divert suspicion from her partner, Carr emphasised she had only lied to police, the media and "anyone who asks" to protect Huntley, who had repeatedly assured her of his innocence of any wrongdoing and his fear of being "fitted up"[144] by police for the girls' disappearance should they discover the 1998 rape allegation made against him. Huntley saw the girls and lured them back to his house on the pretence that their teaching assistant Maxine Carr, his girlfriend was also at the house. The parents of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman will probably never know how their daughters died. In reference to the evident extensive cleaning of the house's interior, Huntley stated: "Excuse the dining room. In an attempt to emotionally blackmail his wife into remaining with him, Huntley alternately feigned an illness and, later, began drooling before faking an epileptic seizure; neither ploy succeeded. He was just six years old at the time of his sisters murder. Referencing Carr's conscious efforts to deceive the police and media alike, Latham stated: "She had the prospect of marriage, a baby, a nice home and a new start. [14] Pathological evidence retrieved from the bodies indicating at least one of the girls had been subjected to a sexual assault either before or after her murder was not disclosed to the jury at Huntley's trial. However, they did break their silence on the first anniversary of the Police National Database launch. . I wish I could see her now, see what shed have looked like, he said. None were alive when Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman died on this day 20 years ago . He applied for and secured employment as a senior caretaker at this secondary school in September 2001, supervising the work of four other employees. Latham contended Huntley had deliberately lured the girls into his home at approximately 6:37p.m.[128] and that both girls had been murdered shortly thereafter, with cell site analysis showing Huntley had switched off Chapman's mobile phone either outside his home or within the grounds of Soham Village College after both girls had been murdered. Latham stated neither body showed signs of compressive neck injuries, knife wounds, drugging or poisoning, and that both girls had most likely died of asphyxiation. On August 17, police arrested Ian Huntley and his girlfriend, Maxine Carr, for the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. [163] Huntley began work at Soham Village College on 26 November. In this offence, he and an accomplice allegedly broke into the house of a neighbour in Grimsby and stole electrical goods, jewellery and cash. These disclosures revealed that not only had police failed to pursue numerous previous criminal complaints of sexual offences against underage girls and young women by Huntley, but he had then secured a job in Soham allowing him access to children. [156] In setting this minimum term of imprisonment, Mr Justice Moses stated: "The order I make offers little or no hope of the defendant's eventual release. This had included fibre evidence retrieved from Huntley's vehicle, clothes and carpets which had been a "precise match" to the Manchester United shirts the girls had been wearing at the time of their disappearance. Holly Wells was a British murder victim from Soham, Cambridgeshire. Via his father, Huntley learned of a school caretaker vacancy in nearby Soham Village College in mid-2001. Sat 21 Sep 2002 at 16:00. At this hearing, Carr was informed by Principal Crown Prosecutor Marion Bastin this charge carried a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. This information was later included in a televised appeal about the children's disappearance on the BBC's Crimewatch, but this potential lead failed to bear fruit. He was not charged. [37] Other family members and friends of both girls also appealed via the media for the safe return of the children. [180] The youngest girl Huntley is known to have raped was 12 years old, with another girl he had attempted to rape being 11. As for Hollys younger brother Oliver, who was six-years-old at the time of her murder, hes gone on to have a family of his own with his partner Lydia. He then outlined the details of how Keith Pryer and his two friends had discovered the bodies on 17 August[131] at a location Huntley had known from his plane-spotting hobby and where they were unlikely to be discovered. I wish I could see her now, see what shed have looked like, he is quoted as telling RadioTimes in 2012 , prior to having his own kids. Ant and Dec drop huge hint SM:TV could be returning to our screens. The couple relocated to East Anglia in early 2001. I've just watched the programme. Huntley denies murdering the two girls and Carr, a former classroom assistant at . Best friends Holly and Jessica were just 10 years . But, whatever he initiated, plainly went wrong. The girls' bodies were discovered on 17 August 2002. He hasn't done it! [159] The Huntley family were working class and at the time of the birth of their first child, lodged with Lynda's parents in Grimsby. Ian was sentenced to life sentences. According to Huntley, he, Wells and Chapman had entered his bathroom to stem a mild nosebleed Wells had been suffering when the girls had walked by his home. [192] This employment was initially voluntary work, but Carr later became a teaching assistant in the school's Year 5 class. [165], In 1990, Huntley finished his schooling, obtaining five GCSE passes. They both lived in the village of Soham in Cambridgeshire, where they went to St Andrew's Primary School. [24], Huntley's car was also forensically examined on 16 August. Within a month, Huntley had begun to regularly sexually assault his wife, also subjecting her to indignities such as locking her in their house and cutting off her hair. Holly Marie Wells (October 4, 1991 - August 4, 2002) was a 10-year-old British girl from Soham, England. Shortly thereafter, she briefly worked as a junior care assistant at a care home for the elderly in Grimsby, then returned to work alongside her mother as a labourer at Bluecrest fish processing plant. [170] Within four weeks of their acquaintance,[199] she had moved into Huntley's Barton-upon-Humber flat, and the couple informed relatives of their eagerness to start a family. [12] Huntley evidently lured the girls into his house, stating that his girlfriend, Maxine Carrthe girls' teaching assistant at St Andrew's Primary Schoolwas also in the house; she was in fact visiting her mother in Grimsby, Lincolnshire. [82] As such, she was found not guilty of assisting an offender. Two decades ago, 10-year-old schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were murdered by their school caretaker Ian Huntley. School caretaker Ian Huntley is currently serving a prison sentence for the young girls' murder. The girls had been at a Wells family barbecue before sneaking out to buy sweets. The images of their young faces, heads close together and wearing matching red football shirts, are fixed in our minds as we go about our daily lives, switching on news bulletins in the hope of good news, only to discover with sinking hearts that there has been none except perhaps the . It was one, almost two years before we found each other again, he continued, but grief gives you a different sense of the passage of time and it slipped by unnoticed. As Kevin says in the ITV documentary, he and Nicola were determined to be among the 5 per cent of couples who stay together following the bereavement of a murdered child. Holly Marie Wells and her Best Friend Jessica Aimee Chapman went Missing on 4th August 2002 as they were walking along a Street in Soham, England. ", "In a Secure Mental Unit, Huntley is Charged on Two Counts of Murder", "Inquest Into Deaths of Murdered Cambridgeshire Girls Opens Today", "Asphyxia 'Likely Cause' of Soham Deaths", "Funerals of Soham Girls Take Place in Private", "Holly and Jessica Laid to Rest in Private", "Caretaker was Sure Holly and Jessica had Not Run Away", "Missing Girls: Police Appeal to Abductor", "Arrested Couple Publicly Declared their Affection for Girls", "Old Bailey Jury Watches TV Interviews of Huntley and Carr", "Ownership of Red Fiesta is Key Issue in Soham Trial", "Two Held on Suspicion of Murdering Missing Girls", "Tearful Carr Confronted with Evidence Against Lover, Court Hears", "In a Secure Mental Unit, Ian Huntley is Charged On Two Counts of Murder", "Soham Accused Carr to Testify Via Prison Video Link", "Maxine Carr to Wed as She Finds Man Ready to Forget Her Past", "Holly, Jessica and the Unravelling of a Dark and Terrible Mystery", "Ian Huntley Back in Prison After Taking Drug Overdose", "Jessica's Mobile 'is Vital Clue to Murder', "Soham Trial Hears Further Witness Evidence", "Please Don't Think I Could Kill, Said Huntley in Call to Mother", "Huntley Story 'Highly Unlikely' Says Expert", "Soham Murders: How Ian Huntley's Killing of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman Shook the Nation", "Maxine Carr Takes the Stand to Tell the Court Why She Stood by Huntley", "Find Him Guilty of Manslaughter, QC Tells Jury", "Maxine Carr: What Happened to Ian Huntley's Girlfriend After the Soham Murders? [82], In a reference to Huntley's claims both girls' deaths had been accidental, Latham stated that "only one person knows what happened" after the friends entered his home. He can't have been! She briefly worked alongside her mother in a fish processing plant as she considered which career path she should choose before enrolling at the Grimsby Institute of Further & Higher Education, having chosen to study general care. THE community of Soham was left heartbroken when the bodies of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells were discovered in 2002. The parents of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman have long been commended for their dignity and grace during what can only be described as unimaginable heartbreak. He went on to have what his parents thought were "imaginary friends . [132][4], Referencing the likely motive for the girls' murder and the cause of death of each victim, Latham stated that due to the extensive state of decomposition of the bodies, the coroner had been unable to determine the precise cause of death of either child, or whether the girls had been sexually assaulted before or after death. . At about 6:15 p.m., Wells and Chapman decided to purchase some sweets at a nearby store (via Chilling . In 2015 it was reported that Nicola and Kevin had moved back into the home that held so many precious memories of their beloved daughter. Luv Holly. "[69][n 8], By the second week of the children's disappearance, Huntley had begun to lose weight and was displaying visible symptoms of insomnia. He said it helped the family with their loss. Two years later, on 21 March 2010, he received non life-threatening injuries to his neck after his throat was slashed by convicted armed robber Damien Fowkes. I hope the next time I see him, it will be like we saw our daughtersand it will be in a coffin. The Chief Constable of Cambridgeshire Constabulary, Tom Lloyd, was also subjected to severe criticism as his force had failed to contact Humberside Police during the investigation into Huntley's criminal background prior to his securing employment at Soham Village College. They briefly moved out of the family home where she spent her last day, though. Holly was buried yesterday after a service at St Andrew's Church in Soham, Cambridgeshire.Sep 4, 2002 15 August 2002[61], At about 12:30p.m. on 17 August,[62] a 48-year-old gamekeeper named Keith Pryer discovered the bodies of both girls lying side by side in a 5-foot (1.5m) deep irrigation ditch close to a pheasant pen near the perimeter fence of RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk,[63] more than 10 miles (16km) east of Soham. Investigators believe that prior to his 2002 arrest, Huntley had engaged in illegal sexual activity with up to 60 underage girls. Huntley's mother's maiden name had been Nixon. Episode 2 of Soham: The Murder of Holly & Jessica airs tonight (March 10) on Channel 5 at 9pm. Now, almost 20 years on, Channel 5 tonight (March 10) continues its documentary series Soham: The Murder of Holly & Jessica. THE community of Soham was left heartbroken when the bodies of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells were discovered in 2002. Following a heated argument in mid-1979, Shirley ordered her husband to leave the household. Sharon worked at St Andrews primary school in Soham. [97] By this date, police had received information from several Grimsby residents who had recognised Huntley in the television interviews he had given, and recalled that he had been accused of rape several years earlier. [60], Ian Huntley, interviewed by Sky News correspondent Jeremy Thompson. This footage depicted them arriving at the local sports centre at 6:28p.m.[33][n 2] A televised reconstruction of the children's last known movements was broadcast nationally on 10 August,[35][36] and both sets of parents granted an interview with presenter Colin Baker on ITV's current affairs programme Tonight, which was broadcast on 12 August. I'm going to be inside forever, and it'll be torture. Had they done so, they would have discovered an outstanding burglary charge on file relating to his November 1995 arrest for this crime. This vehicle was last seen turning into the Studlands Park housing estate. [2], Huntley was convicted of the murder of both girls on 17 December 2003 and sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment, with the High Court later imposing a minimum term of 40 years. He would only resume using his father's surname following the 2002 reconciliation of his parents.