Jury hears of Huntley’s ‘quiet spot’
The jury in the Soham murder trial has heard that suspect Ian Huntley told a businessman “no one goes down there”, referring to the site in Suffolk where the bodies of schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were found.
On the second day of evidence from witnesses for the prosecution, Benjamin Hicking, managing director of a windows firm, told the court of the comments made by Mr Huntley when he visited Soham Village College in March last year.
Huntley mentioned the spot near the RAF base at Lakenheath as he discussed plane-spotting, Mr Hicking said.
“It was an area that you were not supposed to go down,” he added.
“It was an area where he spent a lot of time, an area he enjoyed going to because of his interest in planes.”
Former caretaker Mr Huntley denies murdering ten-year-old schoolfriends Holly and Jessica in August last year.
The two girls went missing on August 4th from their hometown of Soham in Cambridgeshire. Their bodies were discovered in a ditch near Lakenheath, Suffolk, almost two weeks later.
Yesterday the jury of seven women and five men heard how Mr Huntley attempted to comfort Holly’s father, Kevin Wells, three days after the two girls disappeared.
Mr Huntley told him: “I’m so sorry, I didn’t realise it was your daughter.”
Mr Wells told police Huntley looked “terrible” and had “panda eyes”.
He said in a statement to police: “I was aware of somebody standing just behind my left shoulder, too close for comfort and invading my personal space.
“I turned round and saw it was Ian Huntley. I said ‘Hello’.
“He said ‘Kevin, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realise it was your daughter’.
“I said, ‘I know, thank you for your kind words, it just beggars belief, doesn’t it?’, or something to that effect.
“He agreed and said ‘yes, I know’.”
The prosecution is expected to concentrate on Ian Huntley’s movements at the time Holly and Jessica vanished today.
Mr Huntley’s former girlfriend Maxine Carr, 26, denies attempting to pervert the course of justice and assisting an offender.
