Carr fails in bid for freedom

MAXINE CARR yesterday failed in her bid to be released from jail less than two months after she was convicted of conspiring to pervert the course of justice in the Soham murder case.

The 26-year-old former girlfriend of double child killer Ian Huntley applied to be let out with an electronic tag and a night-time curfew but was told by prisons chief Martin Narey that she must stay behind bars.

Her application for the Home Detention Curfew (HDC) scheme had been approved by the governor of Holloway prison Ed Willetts but Mr Narey overruled after considering Carr's plea for a week.

It was in direct response to her application that the British government introduced new powers which allowed Mr Narey to overrule prison governors.

In a letter to Carr yesterday he said: "Your conviction for conspiring with Ian Huntley to pervert the course of justice connects you indelibly with this case and with the public outcry that has accompanied it.

"The possibility of your early release on HDC has attracted, and continues to attract, huge adverse publicity. I have therefore concluded that for the above reasons your release on HDC, so soon after the trial has ended, would undermine public confidence in the HDC scheme."

Mr Narey said Carr would also face risks to her safety at the address where she proposed to live.

She is understood to have wanted to return to an address either in or near her home town of Grimsby. Carr's legal team may seek a judicial review.