Maxine told me to burn girls' bodies: Huntley

Soham killer Ian Huntley claims it was his girlfriend Maxine Carr who orchestrated the cover-up of the deaths of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, it was reported today.

In a taped confession from his prison cell, Huntley said Carr told him to burn the girls’ bodies to get rid of any evidence after they were dumped in a ditch near Lakenheath air base in Suffolk.

The revelation challenges the verdict of the jury at the trial which cleared Carr on two counts of assisting an offender.

The Sun newspaper reported that Huntley, 30, said it was Carr, 27, who cleaned the house and and told him to clean the car and lie to police after he told her the girls were dead.

He reportedly went on to describe how she told him to burn the bodies.

He said: “Maxine wanted me to go back. She told me to destroy all the evidence. I didn’t know what she meant at first. And then she explained exactly what she meant - which is where the petrol can and everything came in.

“And that makes me feel 10 times worse, on top of everything else, because to do that was unforgivable.”

Lifer Huntley was convicted of the murders of Holly and Jessica, from Soham in England last December.

Ex-fiancee Carr was sentenced to three and a half years for conspiring with Huntley to pervert the course of justice.

Carr’s lawyer, Roy James, told the Sun she denied the allegations “in the strongest possible terms”.

He said: “I have grave concerns that repetition of these falsehoods put her at even greater risk that she is at the moment.”

A Prison Service spokeswoman said: “We are not commenting on the allegations and any suggestions of her (Carr) being charged with the wrong thing is a matter for Cambridgeshire Police to investigate.

“There is no evidence Huntley was interviewed by The Sun. We are saying the interview was a phone discussion between Huntley and a family member.”

The revelations follow a report in The Sun yesterday on how Huntley lied in court over the deaths of schoolgirls Jessica and Holly.

It prompted the Prison Service to announced a review of the way in which all calls to Huntley are recorded.

In taped comments, Huntley allegedly revealed that 10-year-old Jessica died in the living room and not the bathroom of his home in Soham in August 2002.

The Sun has refused to reveal the origins of the tape.

A spokesman for the Prison Service said the recording had been made during a conversation between Huntley and a relative.

“There was no evidence that he was interviewed by The Sun,” he said. “It does appear to be a taped discussion between Huntley and a close family member.

“We are reviewing the manner in which Huntley’s calls are recorded by the Prison Service.”

Huntley told the Old Bailey during his trial that the girls died accidentally in his home.

The former caretaker claimed Holly had suffered a nosebleed and drowned in the bath, and that he killed Jessica as he tried to silence her screams.

But in the tape while at Wakefield top security prison, Huntley reportedly said: “I said that Jessica died in the bathroom. She didn’t. She died in the living room. Everything happened as I said it did, apart from that.

“As soon as I got Holly out of the bath and everything, and realised she was dead, Jessica just went schiz.”

Huntley said he took Jessica down to the living room and tried to talk to her and calm her down, but she tried to leave.

According to a transcript of the tape in The Sun, he said: “I don’t know what was going through my head. I certainly don’t recall thinking: ‘I’ve got to kill her to stop her leaving.’ I think it was my intention just to stop her.”

Cambridgeshire Police said yesterday that Huntley’s comments “add to the confusion” and “causes more and more pain for Holly and Jessica’s parents”.