Soham murders: ‘bodies burnt’
The jury in the Soham murder trial has heard that the bodies of murdered schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were set on fire in the ditch where they were dumped.
The girls’ bodies were found almost a fortnight after they disappeared, in an overgrown ditch near RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk, on August 17th.
Speaking at the Old Bailey, Richard Latham QC, prosecuting, said that the two girls were probably asphyxiated.
He explained that decomposition meant that the exact cause of death or whether the girls were sexually assaulted could not be determined. But he said there was no sign of broken bones, drugging, stab wounds or poisoning.
Mr Latham said the defence may try to suggest the deaths were an accident, but went on: “These were not two little babies. They were two fit 10-year-old girls. Ten-year-old girls don’t just drop dead.”
Mr Latham said the defence might also try to argue Mr Huntley had been “confused” and said the jury would have to consider his behaviour following the girls’ disappearance.
Drawing his opening statement to a close Mr Latham turned to Ms Carr.
Mr Latham said “as surely as night follows day” Ms Carr and Mr Huntley were working together to make a false story.
He told the jury that after Ms Carr’s arrest, she admitted she had been lying throughout the fortnight since the girls disappeared.
Ms Carr had explained this lie by saying Mr Huntley had been falsely accused of a crime in the past. But, Mr Latham said, standing by your man was not a reasonable defence when it came to the charge of perverting the course of justice.
Mr Latham said earlier that the red Manchester United shirts worn by the schoolgirls were cut almost exactly in half as they were removed from their bodies.
On the third day of evidence, the prosecution showed the jury photographs of the shirts which showed how they were cut vertically from the bottom hem to the neck, in the centre, and similar cuts were made up the back of the shirts.
Jessica’s shirt showed signs of slight burn marks. Pictures of the girls’ scorched trainers were also shown.
The jury was told yesterday that an attempt was made to burn the distinctive matching shirts and the rest of the 10-year-old’s clothing in a bin in a hangar building at Soham Village College, where alleged murderer Ian Huntley worked as a caretaker.
Mr Huntley’s fingerprints and hairs from his head were found inside the bin with Holly and Jessica’s clothes, Mr Latham told the court.
Mr Huntley, 29, denies killing the two best friends, who disappeared from their homes in Soham, Cambridgeshire on August 4th last year.
Mr Huntley was not in court on Friday – for which no explanation was given.
On Thursday he was absent in the afternoon after becoming unwell.
Mr Huntley’s ex-girlfriend Maxine Carr, 26, denies two charges of assisting an offender and one of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.
The jury will visit relevant locations in Soham next week.
The case continues.
