Soham girls ‘were most likely smothered’

HOLLY WELLS and Jessica Chapman were probably smothered before being dumped in a remote ditch, the Old Bailey heard yesterday.

A pathologist concluded that the most likely cause of death was asphyxia, the jury was told.

Remains of the two 10-year-old girls were so badly decomposed that they might never have been found, prosecutor Richard Latham QC told the court.

They were virtually skeletons with only scraps of skin and hair remaining on their backs and were subject to severe maggot infestation, he said.

"A positive cause of death in each case was impossible to determine because of the state of the bodies," Mr Latham said. "It however leaves asphyxia as the most likely cause."

Home Office pathologist Dr Nat Carey arrived at this conclusion by working "backwards rather than forwards", the court heard.

He found no evidence of major injury such as broken bones or compressive neck injuries.

The pathologist also ruled out stabbing, shooting or other "significant trauma" and said that there was no blood on the girls' clothing.

There was no evidence of poisoning or the administration of drugs.

Mr Latham said: "It is not possible to exclude sexual assault because of the degree of decomposition."

The court heard that the bodies were dumped side by side with their legs crossed in an irrigation ditch between two fields. Three walkers found the remains on August 17 13 days after the girls went missing after being alerted by the "smell of rotting flesh", Mr Latham said.

Shrubbery around the ditch in which the girls were dumped were badly scorched from the attempt to set the bodies on fire.

Jessica's remains was still wearing a beaded necklace and Holly was wearing a metal necklace with the word 'love' inscribed on it.

Human head hairs, later found to belong to Jessica, were found on a branch above them, suggesting the body had been bumped against it on the way into the ditch.

A scrap of material from Jessica's trousers was found underneath the body, suggesting the clothes were cut from them while in the ditch, he said.

Dr Carey concluded that the bodies had been dumped in the ditch soon after their deaths because rigor mortis did not appear to have set in.

Ian Huntley, 29, denies murdering the two girls.