Huntley “helpful” on night Holly and Jessica disappeared
Soham murders suspect Ian Huntley was “very helpful” in the search for missing schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman a court heard today.
Police dog handler Pc Anna Burton told the Old Bailey how Huntley helped her search the Soham Village College area after she was tasked there on the night the two girls went missing.
Many of the residents of the Cambridgeshire village hunted for the missing schoolgirls alongside police.
Pc Burton explained how she did not know the area and thought it was “wonderful” when she bumped into Mr Huntley, who worked as a caretaker at the school, walking his dog.
“I asked him who he was and he said he was the caretaker, and I said that was handy because I’m here to search for two girls,” she said.
She said Huntley offered to get the keys to the college.
“I just thanked him and said I was very grateful for his help, particularly because of the fact it was so late.”
Pc Burton told the court that the pair had later approached the hangar building in which Holly and Jessica’s clothes were later found in a bin. She said that Mr Huntley told her he did not have the keys.
Pc Burton said of Huntley: “He was very pleasant, very helpful. We chatted. Because he was so young, we chatted about his responsibilities and he told me he was the head caretaker.
“I thought that was very unusual for a young man but I also thought that was where he got his energy from, to be so helpful so late at night.”
Best friends Holly and Jessica went missing from their hometown of Soham, Cambridgeshire on August 4th 2002.
Their bodies were found almost two weeks later, on August 17th, in a ditch near RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk.
Former caretaker Ian Huntley, 29, denies two counts of murder but has pleaded guilty to one charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
His ex-girlfriend Maxine Carr, 26, denies attempting to pervert the course of justice and assisting an offender.
