Soham murders trial begins
The trial of the man accused of murdering Soham schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman opened on Monday at the Old Bailey.
Ian Huntley pleaded not guilty in April to the murders of the ten-year-olds who disappeared from their homes in the Cambridgeshire town on August 4th 2002.
The 29-year-old former school caretaker and his ex-girlfriend Maxine Carr, 26, were arrested on August 17th last year.
The bodies of the two girls were found in a ditch near an airbase in Suffolk, 13 days after they went missing.
The first stage of the trial will see the jury selected. The prosecution is not expected to set out its evidence until later in the week.
Huntley and Carr, who have been held in custody since their arrests, were in court for the start of the trial.
Carr, a former classroom assistant, denies one charge of conspiring to pervert the course of justice and two charges of assisting an offender.
Huntley denies two charges of murder but has admitted a single charge of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.
Both girls’ parents – Kevin and Nicola Wells and Sharon and Leslie Chapman – attended the first day of the trial.
Richard Latham QC, prosecuting, is expected to make his opening statement on Wednesday.
Stephen Coward QC will defend Huntley, and Michael Hubbard QC will defend Carr.
The trial judge is Mr Justice Moses, whose last high profile case was that of renegade MI5 officer David Shayler.
