Soham murder trial hears families' statements

Statements from the families of murdered schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were read today to the jury trying their alleged killer Ian Huntley.

None of the parents of the two 10-year-olds were expected to be called into the witness box but their statements were read to the court by the lead prosecution lawyer Richard Latham QC.

He began with a statement from Holly’s mother Nicola.

Jurors were hearing the prosecution open the case against Huntley, 29, and his ex-girlfriend Maxine Carr.

Huntley, a former caretaker at Soham Village College, denies two charges of murder but admits a single count of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

Carr, 26, a former classroom assistant at the girls’ school, denies conspiring to pervert the course of justice and two charges of assisting an offender.

The jury returned yesterday from a two-day site visit to the girls’ home town of Soham, Cambridgeshire, and Lakenheath, Suffolk, where they retraced the victims’ final steps and were shown inside the house the defendants used to share, 5 College Close.

The girls went missing on Sunday August 4 last year and their bodies were found in a remote ditch near Lakenheath 13 days later.

The prosecution’s first witnesses were expected to give evidence later today, on day eight of the trial.

Both Huntley and Carr were in the dock at the Old Bailey to hear the statements from the families.