At age 10, Wells and Chapman went missing from the Wells home on August 4, 2002, and were found dead on August 17, 2002, after going missing for almost two weeks. Today I accept there was nothing more or different as a parent I could have done to change the outcome, Kevin said at the time. Lyrics by: Alan Menken. Referencing one of the 1998 rapes he had committed but had earlier claimed to her to have been falsely accused of in this phone call, Huntley then began voicing concerns as to again being falsely accused of involvement on this occasion, also claiming his previous arrest had caused him to suffer a nervous breakdown. Ian Huntley worked as a caretaker at the school both girls attended. [78] This service was attended by about 2,000 people, including the girls' classmates, teachers and the six family liaison officers who had provided 24-hour service for both families. [173] Rumours of Huntley's sexual interest in underage girls soon became community gossip, and he was regularly insulted by neighbours and colleagues. [38] These appeals for information on the whereabouts of Wells and Chapman produced over 2,000 phone calls and tips from the public, with all information obtained entered into the investigation's HOLMES 2 database. [89] In one interview with Sky News correspondent Jeremy Thompson during the second week of the search, he claimed to be holding on to a "glimmer of hope"[61] the children would be found safe and well, and that he had last seen the girls walking in the direction of a local library. ", "Caretaker Charged With Murder of Two Girls and Sent to Rampton", "Holly and Jessica: Two Bodies Found in Woods", "The Whole Town is Weeping: A Community Dazed by Grief and Disbelief", "Chatroom Contact Dismissed as False Lead", "Reconstruction of Children's Walk Too Painful for Parents to Watch", "Walking in the Last Known Footsteps of Holly and Jessica", "Abduction of Six-year-old May be Linked to Missing Girls", "A Long Night Waiting for News That Never Came", "Countdown to Murder of 'Two Little Beckhams', "Soham Murders: Why did Ian Huntley Kill Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman? Ian Huntley was found guilty of their murders and sentenced to life in prison. Her parents, Kevin and Nicola, were certain she would be the first member of their family to go to university. [19] Following subsequent frantic efforts by the families of both girls to locate their daughters, Wells and Chapman were reported missing by their parents at 9:55p.m.[20], Police immediately launched an intensive search for the missing children. [12] Huntley evidently lured the girls into his house, stating that his girlfriend, Maxine Carrthe girls' teaching assistant at St Andrew's Primary Schoolwas also in the house; she was in fact visiting her mother in Grimsby, Lincolnshire. . [147], Referencing Huntley's likely motive for the murders and his claims at trial that both deaths had been accidental, Latham stated: "We invite you to reject the accounts of both deaths [being accidental] as desperate lies; the only way out for him. [98], The same evening, police conducted a thorough search of both 5 College Close and the grounds of Soham Village College where Huntley worked as a senior caretaker[100] as the couple remained under police watch at separate locations outside Soham. Most watched News videos. [193], Several of Capp's colleagues later remarked how they found her to be a distant and immature figure with few friends or hobbies. [27] The parents of both girls stated that their daughters had been wary of talking with strangers, having been warned not to trust people they did not know from early childhood. [14] Although reported to police on three occasions, Huntley was not charged for any of these offences as each of the girls denied having engaged in sex with Huntley. [95] To one officer, he said: "You think I've done it? [228] At the time, Carr was one of four former prisoners in the UK to be given a new identity upon release. On August 4, 2002, Huntley murdered Wells and Chapman . Wells and her friend, Jessica Chapman was out to purchase a sweet from a nearby vending machine. Section of Mr Justice Alan Moses' sentencing of Ian Huntley. [5][6], At 11:45a.m. on Sunday, 4 August 2002, Jessica Chapman left her home in Brook Street, Soham, to attend a barbecue at the home of her best friend, Holly Wells, in nearby Redhouse Gardens. [229] Carr won an injunction on 24 February 2005, granting her lifelong anonymity on the grounds that her life would otherwise be in danger. It is believed that Cambridgeshire Police failed to perform a background check under the name Huntley. Available Until: 05 September 2026. Season 1. He would typically use guile or force to achieve his desires. He then speculated Huntley's defence counsel may try and argue that he had been confused, commenting: "In that case, they would have to consider [Huntley's] behaviour over the fortnight between the girls' disappearance and their bodies being found. Half burned remains of clothes were found in a garbage bin The Way out Evidence found the girls' partially burned bodies in a six-foot-deep ditch found a type of weed that only grows after a plants have been disturbed Pollen samples were taken from where the girls bodies were More than 400 officers worked around the clock to find the girls, along with hundreds of locals who volunteered to help and appealed to . Holly and Jessica both lived close to each other in the Cambridgeshire town of Soham in the United Kingdom and . Jessica was a schoolgirl. Within a month, Huntley had begun to regularly sexually assault his wife, also subjecting her to indignities such as locking her in their house and cutting off her hair. Big Zuu profile: What is his net worth and does he have a wife? Head to our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and tell us what you think of our story. Locals would rally around the families of the girls and dedicate hours of their time searching for them . After the kidnapping, both girls were killed. Each provided witness statements before being placed in a safe house in the village of Histon. [106][107], During initial questioning, Huntley refused to answer questions and appeared evasive, confused, and emotionally detached, occasionally drooling during police attempts to question him in an effort to feign mental illness. Jessica Chapmans parents, Leslie and Sharon, have rarely spoken publicly about the murder. But, whatever he initiated, plainly went wrong. The Soham murders were a double child murder committed in Soham, Cambridgeshire, England on 4 August 2002.The victims were two 10-year-old girls, Holly Marie Wells and Jessica Aimee Chapman, who were lured into the home of a local resident and school caretaker, Ian Kevin Huntley, who subsequently murdered the childrenlikely via asphyxiationbefore disposing of their bodies in an . [181][n 13], Following his arrest, several former girlfriends and sexual partners stated that Huntley presented himself as a charming and considerate man in the early stages of a relationship, but would become domineering and violent upon having established control. Get back in the van! 13 days later after their disappearance their bodies were found on August 17th 2002 in a wooded area in LakenHeath Suffolk 10 Miles from Soham where the two Girls lived. [189], By the time Capp entered adolescence, she was slightly overweight, leading her to become insecure about her physical appearance. Discussing Huntley's mindset, Leslie Chapman opined: "I think he was a time bomb waiting to go off and both our girls were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Carr was charged with two counts of assisting an offender and one count of perverting the course of justice. "[109] According to Carr, Huntley then informed her the children had entered their home in order that Wells could stanch her nosebleed. [142] When questioned about why she had then helped Huntley in extensively cleaning their home in the days after the children's murder, Carr claimed she had done so as she had always been "obsessive about tidiness. The victims were two 10-year-old girls, Holly Marie Wells and Jessica Aimee Chapman, who were lured into the home of a local resident and school caretaker, Ian Kevin Huntley,[1] who subsequently murdered the childrenlikely via asphyxiationbefore disposing of their bodies in an irrigation ditch close to RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk. Howard Gilbert, then-headteacher of Soham Village Collegehaving admitted the college's failure to check Huntley's references prior to offering him employmentlater said that he would not have employed Huntley if he had been aware of the burglary charge, as one of Huntley's key responsibilities was to ensure security in the school grounds. That involved at all costs protecting Ian Huntley. A further two part, 60-minute documentary, commissioned by Channel 5, Channel 5 first broadcast the three-episode drama, This page was last edited on 24 February 2023, at 18:00. Submitted Comments (Click here for meetings with SEC officials) Comments have been received from individuals and entities using the following Letter Type A: 31 B: 24 C: 6,254 D: 5 At this hearing, Carr was informed by Principal Crown Prosecutor Marion Bastin this charge carried a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Episode 2 of Soham: The Murder of Holly & Jessica airs tonight (March 10) on Channel 5 at 9pm. Two decades on, where are their parents now, and how have they moved on from the awful tragedy? The girls had been at a Wells family barbecue before sneaking out to buy sweets. It was introduced to close gaps in information-sharing between police forces. [69] However, prior to his trial, a criminal profile had resulted in his being ruled by an eminent criminal psychologist as a "latent, predatory paedophile"[175] who had lured Wells and Chapman into his home in a moment of opportunism. Although Huntley was vetted for the post, including police checks, this failed to identify previous . In this offence, he and an accomplice allegedly broke into the house of a neighbour in Grimsby and stole electrical goods, jewellery and cash. It was one, almost two years before we found each other again, he continued, but grief gives you a different sense of the passage of time and it slipped by unnoticed. As Kevin says in the ITV documentary, he and Nicola were determined to be among the 5 per cent of couples who stay together following the bereavement of a murdered child. ", "Jessica and Holly Doted on Maxine Carr, Says Teacher", "Police Piece Together Last Sightings of Girls", "Poor Intelligence, Poor Data System and Poor Media Strategy: Police Own Up to Failures", "Huntley's Question to Police: 'Am I a Suspect? [186], As a child and adolescent, Capp was viewed by her peers as a timid outcast, with few friends. We will never forget Holly but life does move on it has to. [112], By 20 August, investigators had established sufficient physical evidence from Huntley's home, vehicle and Soham Village College to charge him with two counts of murder. Ian was sentenced to life sentences. "[21], Concluding his questioning, Hubbard cautioned the jury not to succumb to the temptation of judging Carr's morality, but to consider her state of mind prior to her arrest when considering whether the lies she had told warranted any criminal liability, stating she had "done no wrong" on the date of the children's murder, and had not returned to Soham until 6 August. Soham: The Murder of Holly and Jessica 1/2 - True Crime DocumentaryTwo girls go missing from a Cambridge town in August of 2002, leaving their community reel. We had a flood. In 2015 it was reported that Nicola and Kevin had moved back into the home that held so many precious memories of their beloved daughter. For the first time since the horror that shocked the nation four years ago, twisted Ian Huntley has confessed that he THROTTLED screaming Jessica as she tried to phone . [42], Shortly after the children's disappearance, Staffordshire Police contacted the investigating officers to report their suspicions the girls could have been abducted by the same man responsible for an abduction in their jurisdiction the previous year, in which a six-year-old girl had survived an indecent assault by an abductor who was still at large and whose green Ford Mondeo had number plates which had earlier been stolen in Peterborough. Miss ya! One heartbreaking aspect of the murder of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman was that parents everywhere could imagine that these could have been their children. The two-part show will cover the events both leading up to and . I wish I could see her now, see what shed have looked like, he said. They briefly moved out of the family home where she spent her last day, though. Testimony from Carr had indicated her suspicions sexual activity had occurred in their home in her absence as, although Huntley had insisted throughout their relationship that Carr perform all domestic chores, she noticed that he had washed the quilts, pillow cases and sheets of their bed in her absence. Huntley would later inform investigators that he had waited for nightfall before opting to drive to RAF Lakenheath to dispose of the girls' bodies. Are you looking for real estate agents or brokers? Chaired by Sir Michael Bichard, the Bichard inquiry opened on 13 January 2004. The family regularly experienced financial difficulties, but Shirley would later state she "spoiled" her daughters to the best of her financial ability. [15], Within days of Huntley's formal sentencing, he reflected to the media on the prospect of spending the remainder of his life behind bars and of his fears for his security, exclaiming: "I'm going to rot inside this place. The best friends, who were both just ten years old, were attending a barbeque . There is no greater task for the criminal justice system than to protect the vulnerable. The harrowing story documenting the murder of childhood friends Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman airs tonight at 9pm on Channel 5. The girls had been playing together at . (This suspension was later overturned.) [60], Ian Huntley, interviewed by Sky News correspondent Jeremy Thompson. Holly was buried yesterday after a service at St Andrew's Church in Soham, Cambridgeshire.Sep 4, 2002 [158], Ian Kevin Huntley was born in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, on 31 January 1974, the first of two sons born to Kevin Huntley and his wife, Lynda (ne Nixon). [69] Huntley had allegedly suspected Carr of conducting affairs throughout their relationship, leading his mother and some police officers to suspect he had killed the two girls in a fit of jealous rage. A Tim Burton Film. Although Mr Huntley made clear attempts to appear insane, I have no doubt that the man currently, and at the time of the murders, was both physically and mentally sound and therefore, if he is found guilty, carried out the murders totally aware of his actions. Both were arrested on suspicion of abduction and murder at 4:30a.m. on 17 August. [170] Within four weeks of their acquaintance,[199] she had moved into Huntley's Barton-upon-Humber flat, and the couple informed relatives of their eagerness to start a family. [24] Weeping, Huntley admitted responsibility for both deaths, but repeated his insistence that both deaths had been accidental. Jessicas parents are Sharon and Leslie Chapman. Following their separation, Huntley had distanced himself from his father for several years. [82], In a reference to Huntley's claims both girls' deaths had been accidental, Latham stated that "only one person knows what happened" after the friends entered his home. Best friends Holly and Jessica were just 10 years . Episode 2. In your attempts to escape responsibility, in your lies and manipulation you have increased the suffering of two families. [140] He further claimed Chapman had witnessed this accident and began repeatedly screaming, "You pushed her! He went on to have what his parents thought were "imaginary friends . The person responsible for this abduction and assault was also believed to have followed a 12-year-old girl in the same area, although in this instance, his car had been fitted with number plates which had been stolen in Nottinghamshire. A new Channel 5 documentary Soham: The Murder of Holly & Jessica dives into what happened immediately after their parents declared them missing, and how they achieved justice when Huntley was sentenced to two life sentences. [71], The funeral services for Wells and Chapman were held on consecutive days in September 2002. Investigators were able to obtain extensive footage of the children's movements following their departure from the Wells household. Includes summary of election income, expenditures and surplus campaign funds. On June 16, 2003, Ian Huntly pleaded not guilty to the formal charges accusing him of murdering Holly and Jessica . "[90], Discussing the personalities of the girls, Carr described Wells as being the "more feminine" of the two, adding that Chapman was "more of a tomboy"[91] and that on one occasion, she had jokingly remarked to Chapman how, unlike many of her friends, she seldom wore a skirt. [192], In 1993, Capp finished her schooling, having obtained no qualifications. On this occasion, Carr had been drinking with a former boyfriend named Paul Selby when Huntleya casual acquaintance of Selbyapproached the two and initiated a conversation. Here is a timetable of the main events in the search for missing 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. Her age was 10 years at the time of her tragic death. Ian Huntley is found guilty of murdering both Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells. [75], On 21 August, the bodies of both girls were identified via DNA testing. These disclosures revealed that not only had police failed to pursue numerous previous criminal complaints of sexual offences against underage girls and young women by Huntley, but he had then secured a job in Soham allowing him access to children. [76] The Reverend Tim Alban Jones officiated at this service, saying: "Would not the best and most lasting memorial to these two lovely young girls be a change for the better in how we behave towards each other? After two months of courtship,[163] Huntley proposed to Evans. The findings also suggested a national system should be implemented for police forces to share intelligence information, and that all police forces should follow a clear code of practice on record-keeping. A prisoner who is serving a life sentence for the notorious murders of British schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman is in hospital after having . [170], In March 1996, Huntley was charged with burglary.

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