THE community of Soham was left heartbroken when the bodies of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells were discovered in 2002. 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. SOHAM murderer Ian Huntley has admitted to his parents that he deliberately killed Jessica Chapman, it was reported today. He chose not to enrol in college and instead committed himself to finding employment. Her age was 10 years at the time of her tragic death. Where do Carole Middleton and Michael Middleton live? Sophie Turners Joan Charts The Rise Of A Famous British Jewel Thief, 'Art Attack' Neil Buchanan's Latest Gig Is A Far Cry From The CITV Show, Stephen Fry Is Set To Host 'Jeopardy!s UK Comeback, The 'How I Met Your Mother' Cast Just Had A Legendary Reunion. [143], Carr said she had tried to persuade Huntley to contact police and "be open" about his claims to have invited the children into his home for Wells to stanch her nosebleed, but that he had refused to do so, as inviting children into their home had been a violation of the rules imposed by St Andrew's Primary School. [236], Upon learning of these public disclosures, Home Secretary David Blunkett announced a public inquiry into the intelligence-based record keeping and vetting system which had allowed Huntley to obtain employment as a school caretaker despite these previous criminal complaints, which had been reported to police and social services. Holly's parents moved out of the home where she had spent her last day, enjoying a family barbeque with best friend Jessica, who had rushed . He tearfully claimed he had not attempted to feign insanity upon his arrest, insisting the trauma of the children's deaths had temporarily erased his memory and being in the presence of police had caused his mind to temporarily seize. The Bichard Inquiry Report of 2004 was commissioned by the government following the conviction of Ian Huntley for the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in 2003. He regularly travelled to Cambridgeshire from East Anglia on his days off to help his father, and soon developed aspirations to become a school caretaker himself. [172] One of these girls would become pregnant at age 15,[166] and gave birth to a baby girl in 1998. This was supported by the headteacher of St Andrew's Primary School, who told reporters: "The possible danger from strangers is something we have impressed upon [the children] from an early age. Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, both 10, were killed by Huntley after they went missing following a BBQ in Soham, Cambridgeshire, on 4 August 2002. ", "Maxine Carr: The Teenage Anorexic Who Loved Working with Children and Nights on the Town", "Arrested Couple Publicly Declared Their Affection for Girls", "Like the Gullible Young Girls Before Her, Carr Fell for Huntley's Evil Spell", "Maxine Carr: The Teenage Anorexic Who Loved Working With Children and Nights on the Town", "Class Helper Failed to Win Full-time Post", "Anyone Facing Jail by the Child Support Agency Compare it With This", "Soham Murderer Ian Huntley Attacked by Jail Inmate", "Ian Huntley Could Get 20,000 Compensation After Prison Attack", "Ian Huntley: Prisoner Admits Attacking Soham Killer", "Ian Huntley Attacker Damien Fowkes Gets Life Term", "Huntley Revealed All in Taped Confession", "Huntley Fooled Prison's Suicide Watch by Hiding 29 Anti-depressant Pills in Teabags", "Huntley Admits Sex Attack on Girl in 1997", "Maxine Carr to Get Police Guard on Release", "PCC Must Act Over Hounding of Maxine Carr", "Mob Torments Scots Woman Mistaken for Maxine Carr", "Blunkett Orders Police Chief's Suspension", "The CRB Explained: How the Criminal Records Bureau Operates", "Mum Mistaken as Maxine Carr Hopes TV Show Will End Ordeal", "Ian Huntley: The 5 Mistakes That Led to The Soham Killer's Downfall Explored in Tonight's Channel 5 Documentary", "Channel 5 Documentary Looks at Soham Murder Case 20 Years On", "Maxine Review: A Show About the Soham Murders that is Both Pointless and Dangerous", "Maxine Viewers Blast Channel 5 Soham Murders Drama for Being in 'Absurdly Bad Taste', detailing Ian Huntley's conviction of the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, detailing the minimum sentence imposed on Ian Huntley, BBC News report Retrospective news article, confessions to the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, actual motive for committing the Soham Murders, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Soham_murders&oldid=1141362679, Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by England and Wales, Articles with disputed statements from November 2021, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. Sign up for Bustle UK's twice-weekly newsletter, featuring the latest must-watch TV, moving personal stories, and expert advice on the hottest viral buys. The two were best friends and had been spending time with each other for the past couple of days. Chris Young - PA Images/PA Images/Getty Images, schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were murdered. 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 children, before disposing of . Clark concluded in October that, although psychopathic,[120] Huntley did not suffer from any major mental or psychotic illness. Now, almost 20 years on, Channel 5 tonight (March 10) continues its documentary series Soham: The Murder of Holly & Jessica. Wednesday 17 December 2003. Both services were held at St Andrew's parish church and officiated by Tim Alban Jones, and the girls were buried in adjacent graves in Soham's Fordham Road Cemetery, following ceremonies attended by only family and close friends. Maxine Carr, who was the girls teaching assistant, Hollys parents Kevin and Nicola Wells opened up about the death of their daughter, since the unimaginable death of their daughter, I wish I could see her now, see what shed have looked like, families dont suffer the same loss and heartbreak as we did. 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. [216], Huntley was transferred from Wakefield prison to Frankland prison on 23 January 2008. But, whatever he initiated, plainly went wrong. [3] She received a three-and-a-half year prison sentence for conspiring with Huntley to pervert the course of justice. Best friends Holly and Jessica were just 10 years . [14] In any event, the cause of death of both girls was later ruled to be asphyxiation. Ian Huntley worked as a caretaker at the school both girls attended. Ian Huntley is found guilty of murdering both Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells. [64] Pryer had noticed what he later described as an "unusual and unpleasant smell"[65] in the area several days earlier; when returning to the area with two friends on 17 August, he had decided to investigate the cause of this odour. Available Until: 05 September 2026. [241], The Bichard inquiry recommended a mandatory registration scheme for people working with children and vulnerable adults such as the elderly and mentally handicapped. "[69][n 8], By the second week of the children's disappearance, Huntley had begun to lose weight and was displaying visible symptoms of insomnia. Grimsby Institute of Further & Higher Education, "Soham Girls 'Likely to Have Been Asphyxiated', "Maxine Carr Gave Alibi to Save Me; Not to Deceive Police", "Judge Gives Huntley Forty Years And Little Hope", "Caretaker Charged with Murder of Two Girls and Sent to Rampton", "A Long Night Waiting For News That Never Came", "At Night I Sometimes Just Lay There and Cry", "Coroner: Girls' Bodies Were Moved to Woodland", "Ian Huntley Now: What Happened to the Soham Murderer After He Killed Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman", "Mistake Made by Maxine Carr that Showed She Knew Ian Huntley had Killed Soham Schoolgirls", "His Lies and Shallow Charm Fooled Dozens of People but They Hid a Violent, Bitter Man", "As Day Breaks, Huntley's House is Turned Into Dust and Rubble", "Was Jealousy Over Maxine the Trigger for Murder? [24], Huntley's car was also forensically examined on 16 August. Others said that, contrary to her televised claims, Carr had been socialising in Grimsby town centre on the night of the girls' disappearance, and was not at home in Soham as she had claimed to the media. Then we could have stopped them, or done something about it. Almost two weeks after Holly and Jessica went missing, their bodies were found - dumped in a ditch and badly burned. [39], On 12 August, police launched a media appeal to trace the driver of a four-door, dark green saloon car. . In particular to assess the effectiveness of the relevant intelligence-based record keeping, the vetting practices in those forces since 1995 and information sharing with other agencies, and to report to the Home Secretary on matters of local and national relevance and make recommendations as appropriate. 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. 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. Westwood retired in March 2005. [23], By contrast, Carr quickly confessed to detectives she had lied about her whereabouts and her partner's actions on 4 August as, shortly before she had returned to Soham from Grimsby three days later, Huntley had claimed to her in a phone call to have seen the two girls shortly before their disappearance, admitting: "The thing is, Maxine, they came in our house! Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr are taken in to help police with their enquiries, Chapman was described as being tanned, with shoulder-length, brown hair; Wells was described as being fair, with blonde hair. Coronation Street: Killer twist for rapist Aaron when Tracy finds out? On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. "[109] According to Carr, Huntley then informed her the children had entered their home in order that Wells could stanch her nosebleed. Kevin, who runs his own window cleaning business, is also the founding patron of the charity Grief Encounter. The Wells family had moved out of the house they raised Holly and her younger brother Oliver in, as the memories were too painful. I hope the next time I see him, it will be like we saw our daughtersand it will be in a coffin. [80] He was charged with these offences while detained for observation at Rampton Secure Hospital in Nottinghamshire, and all preliminary hearings against him were postponed until the conclusion of his mental health assessment. The 10-year-old friends left the gathering to buy sweets in Soham . Read more: Ian Huntleys jail term run-in with Yorkshire Ripper, suicide attempts and a near-fatal stabbing. [139] In the bathroom, he had slipped and accidentally knocked Wells into his bath while helping her stanch her nosebleed, and this unintentional act had caused her to drown as he "panicked and froze". What is their net worth? It was not until 8 p.m. that Holly's parents found out she was missing. This had included fibre evidence retrieved from Huntley's vehicle, clothes and carpets which had been a "precise match" to the Manchester United shirts the girls had been wearing at the time of their disappearance. A scenes of crime officer also testified that, despite Huntley's exhaustive efforts to remove physical evidence of his crime from his home, a forensic examination had revealed several traces of blood spattering about the hallway and main entrance to the master bedroom.