Soham jurors visit Huntley's house

The Soham murder trial jury today retraced the final steps of schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman before entering the house where they are alleged to have met their deaths.

Their accused killer Ian Huntley is unlikely to deny that the two 10-year-olds died while in the two-storey home, the jury was told last week.

The seven women and five men spent around 30 minutes at the house where they were told its appearance was dramatically different to how it would have seemed on Sunday August 4 last year when the two girls vanished.

Richard Latham QC, prosecuting, paused as the jurors reached 5 College Close, the house formerly shared by Huntley and his ex-girlfriend Maxine Carr.

He said simply: “Members of the jury, number 5.

“It has, by definition, somewhat changed its appearance.

“I remind you of how it looked before it was searched.

“Perhaps one of the most obvious things, apart from the removal of the original windows and window frames, is the new slabbing which has been put down so you can gain access to the house.”

He paused to show the jury photographs of the house as it would have been on the day the girls are alleged to have gone into it, on August 4 last year.

He said: “You are reminded that during the police search the house has been stripped of all interior fittings.

“Each room, for your assistance, is labelled.

“The trees and foliage, of course. We are now in November and you were reminded that it was early August.

“That may be relevant when you are looking around outside.

“When you get to the top of the stairs you will be walking on new ply floorboards which have been placed there for your safety.

“The bathroom has no fittings in it and you will recollect that as you come in through the door the bath was on the left hand side. There are now two rails so you can’t fall down where there is no flooring where the bath was, nor was there ever a lot of flooring there.

“If you look at the photographs to remind you, as you go through the door the lavatory pan would be on your right, the bin immediately to the left and the bath behind the door frame, the taps at the far end against the window.

“Both the prosecution and defence invite you to consider sight lines from within the house both upstairs and downstairs and from immediately outside as we are here, all the way round the site and up to the hangar, which your can see.

“We invite you in particular to consider the following: the view of the hangar, the approach from the sports centre, College Road that you have just come down, the entrance to the Lodeside building which is the school and indeed which buildings actually overlook this area immediately at the front of the house.”

He handed the jury a bundle of photographs and floor plans of the original lay-out of the house.

Mr Latham added: “The ceiling of the dining room is the original ceiling as you see it but is in places torn back, that taking place during the search.”

The 12 jurors filed into the house at 12.37pm and a court official in charge of overseeing the jury stood at the front door, guarding the entrance.

They remained in the house looking around the three bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, lounge and dining room until 12.52pm.

They had previously retraced the exact route the prosecution alleges the girls took before they entered the building.