Huntley 'admits disposing of bodies'

School caretaker Ian Huntley admits disposing of the bodies of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman after they died in his house, the jury trying him for murder heard today.

Five dramatic “admissions” were revealed after the court heard grim details from a gamekeeper who discovered the bodies dumped in a ditch.

The jury had previously heard only that Huntley was “unlikely to deny” that the girls had died in his house while he was alone with them or that he disposed of their bodies.

Today prosecution lawyer Karim Khalil told the court that 21 admissions made on Huntley’s behalf would be dealt with “in due course”.

He went on: “One. Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman went into 5 College Close shortly after 6pm on Sunday August 4, 2002.

“Two. The mobile phone of Jessica Chapman explicitly detached from the mobile network at 6.46pm on Sunday, August 4, 2002. This was the last recorded signal.

“Three. Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman died in 5 College Close on Sunday, August 4, 2002.

“Four. The only other person in 5 College Close at the time of their deaths was Ian Huntley.

“Five. Ian Huntley removed their dead bodies from 5 College Close and transported them in the Ford Fiesta car to the place where the bodies were found.”

Huntley’s lawyer Stephen Coward QC told the court yesterday it was not disputed that the caretaker at Soham Village College had driven along the track near where the girls’ bodies were found on August 17 last year.

The lawyer said it was not disputed that Huntley cut off the girls’ clothes as their bodies lay in a remote ditch beside the track, or that he took the clothes back to Soham Village College and set them on fire.

The charred remnants of the 10-year-olds’ red Manchester United shirts and other clothes were later found hidden in a bin at the college, with hair that matched Huntley’s mixed in with them, the court heard.

Mr Coward said yesterday: “The case for my client is, having cut off the clothes of the girls at the deposition site he brought them back to Soham, put them inside one of the bins that we have seen outside the hangar, set fire to the contents and then replaced the bin inside the hangar.”

The prosecution alleges that Huntley set fire to the clothes and also tried to burn the bodies in a bid to destroy forensic evidence.

Huntley, 29, a former caretaker at Soham Village College, denies the double child murder but has admitted conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

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

The prosecution alleges she gave Huntley a false alibi for the day the girls went missing, Sunday, August 4 last year. Their bodies were found 13 days later.

Today’s evidence was interrupted when the court heard that both defendants were unwell.

Huntley left the dock after his counsel, Stephen Coward QC, told the court his client was not feeling well.

Later Carr’s barrister Michael Hubbard QC said his client was also not feeling well and the judge then adjourned for a short break.

Before today’s admissions the jury heard graphic evidence today from the man who found the bodies.

The court heard how they were found face up in a ditch after three friends had gone to investigate an “horrendous smell” at a remote spot near Lakenheath, Suffolk, on August 17 last year.

Holly’s parents Kevin and Nicola and Jessica’s mother Sharon were in court as prosecutor Richard Latham QC read a witness statement by local gamekeeper Keith Pryer.

The court has already been told the bodies of the 10-year-olds were found badly burnt in a drainage ditch off a track known as Common Drove in the remote spot.

Mr Latham said Mr Pryer had met up on the day with couple Adrian Lawrence and Helen Sawyer.

The trio were in the Common Drove area where Mr Pryer regularly tended to some pheasant pens.

Mr Latham said Mr Lawrence had told Mr Pryer there had been an “horrendous smell” as he had driven into the area.

Reading from Mr Pryer’s statement, Mr Latham said: “I said I had noticed it a few days ago and was going to check it out now.”

The three drove down to the fourth pheasant pen, parked up and began walking along the Drove.

“We walked up either side attempting to identify the source of the smell.

“Having walked 40 to 50 yards I heard Adrian say, ‘Do not come any further Helen, go back to the van.’

“He shouted to me to go over and verify what he had seen.”

In his statement, Mr Pryer told how as he approached Mr Lawrence: “I noticed a smell of rotting flesh.”

He said he looked into an area around 6ft wide and about 4ft deep.

“I was not prepared for what I saw. There was, or appeared to be, two very badly decomposing bodies lying side by side.

“I immediately thought of the two missing girls from Soham and Adrian rang the police on his mobile phone.”

Mr Latham told the court he was not prepared to read the next bit.

The trial continues.