Isolated beauty spot turned into crime scene investigation

THREE young girls were the first to lay flowers near the spot where the bodies were found.

The youngsters were some of the first people to arrive at the roadside spot near the scene of the awful discovery.

Within hours of the bodies being found by walkers the remote spot near Lakenheath, Suffolk, was transformed from a beauty spot and nature reserve into a possible crime scene, swarming with police investigators.

The gruesome find was made at about 1pm yesterday by two local men and a woman who were walking in the area.

The bodies were found at the edge of a track, surrounded by open Suffolk countryside, close to densely-wooded conifer plantations and the United States Air Force base at Lakenheath.

Forests hem in the area, which is covered with scrub and copses.

Jennifer and Kelly Knight and their friend Joanna Hotchkiss, 12, had travelled to the spot to lay flowers at the roadside where police blockades had sealed off the area.

Kelly and Jennifer’s mother Michelle Thomson, 27, said they had begged to be allowed to come after following the case since the girls disappeared.

The family, who are on a Suffolk caravanning holiday from their home in Oldham, Greater Manchester, said their trip had been in the shadow of the hunt for the missing 10-year-olds.

Ms Thomson said: ‘‘Kelly was particularly upset about what had happened because she will be 10 herself soon and the closeness in age really brings it home.

‘‘She said, ‘Mummy is it all right if I put some flowers down?’ So we came here so they could lay some wildflowers.’’

This dusty dirt track is now the centre of a frantic police hunt for evidence.

White-suited forensics officers continue to comb the scene, dressed in the ‘‘moon suits’’ of white paper, their shoes clad with white plastic covers to ensure they did not contaminate the crime scene area.

No vehicles are permitted to travel down the track, forcing the forensic specialists to walk the quarter of a mile along the rutted lane to the spot where the bodies lie, concealed by a densely wooded area.

To the right of the track a field of golden corn sways gently in the wind and on the other side a line of trees conceal it from a country road.

It was an isolated and lonely spot where the crisscross of electricity cables and the fields of crops were the only signs of human activity.

The only building visible was the steeple of nearby Wangford Church, which sits some 500 metres behind the line of trees.

A cluster of trees concealed the site where the bodies were found, with the debris of the police investigation littering the track, including boxes and the remainders of the blue and white police tape used to seal off the area.

At the far end of the dirt track, barely visible to the naked eye, a second line of police tape marks the spot where the bodies were found.

No one knows how long the bodies had lain there but police officers are working around the clock in a frantic bid to discover if they are indeed those of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. needs to be changed if bodies are identified

Waist-high weeds including stinging nettles line the track and reeds grow beside the row of trees, suggesting a murky dark line of water lies beneath them.

No vehicles were being allowed down the track, forcing the forensic specialists to carry all their vital equipment to the scene itself.

It is hard to imagine a more isolated and remote spot, set in the heart of the open Suffolk countryside where few landmarks interrupt the flat horizon.

Det Chief Insp Andy Hebb, who was helicoptered to the scene late last night, said he had come direct from a personal briefing with Cambridgeshire’s Chief Constable.

He told reporters: ‘‘This is going to be a long, long task.

‘‘We have to make sure that we carefully assess the scene.’’