Accused seemed to shut out the world

THE tension was palpable as the court waited for Maxine Carr to appear, 17 days after schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman vanished.

It was the climax of a massive police hunt for the murdered 10-year-olds and came five days after Carr, 25, and her caretaker boyfriend Ian Huntley, 28, were led away from their home in the grounds of Soham Village College to give statements to police, and four days after their arrest.

The petite brunette was led into court Number One at Peterborough Magistrates Court at 10.14am yesterday morning and took her place in the seven-foot-long dock behind four glass panels, flanked by three female security officers.