Soham jury hears of parent’s torment
The jury in the Soham murder trial heard today of Holly Wells’ mother’s “desperate wait” for her daughter’s return.
In a statement read to the Old Bailey, Nicola Wells said she “started to panic” when the girls missed a curfew.
The parents of 10-year-old Holly and her best friend Jessica Chapman described in statements the anguish they suffered after the disappearance of their daughters in August 2002.
Nicola Wells described the last weekend the family spent together. She said on Sunday evening “the girls went upstairs and that was the last we saw of them”. After Holly failed to return she said that husband Kevin went out to look for them on his bicycle and her mother, sister and the police came to the house.
“I was getting desperate,” she said.
A statement from Holly’s father, Kevin, described how Ian Huntley, the man who stands accused of their murders, offered his condolences after the girls went missing.
Mr Wells described meeting Mr Huntley on August 7th when the former caretaker came up to him and said: “Kevin I’m so sorry, I didn’t realise it was your daughter”.
Mr Wells said it was a brief encounter of three or four minutes and he thought Huntley was being genuinely sincere.
Mr Huntley was back in the dock as the statements were read out.
This afternoon, Holly and Jessica’s teacher, Joy Pederson, took the stand.
Ms Pederson described the two girls as “loyal friends” who “would have stuck up for each other”.
She said she would have recommended the girls as house captains and told the court that Ms Carr, a teaching assistant at the girl’s school, tended to focus her attention on a group of pupils that included Holly and Jessica.
Ms Pederson, the prosecution’s first witness, said Ms Carr had been ‘gutted’ when she was not give a job as a permanent classroom assistant.
Jessica’s mother Sharon Chapman said that she had worked at St Andrew’s School with Ms Carr and Mr Huntley. Mrs Chapman, a learning skills assistant, said: “Jessica thought Carr was the best teaching assistant she had ever had and was cool.”
She claimed that Jessica had a mobile phone but would never turn it off, even if she knew she might be in trouble for being late.
She revealed that her daughter was afraid of the dark and would sleep with her curtains open and a hall light on.
On Monday and Tuesday the jury of seven women and five men were taken to key sites related to the case, including Mr Huntley’s former home in Soham, Cambridgeshire, and the ditch in Lakenheath, Suffolk where the girls’ bodies were discovered.
The prosecution has already outlined its case against Mr Huntley, 29, who denies two counts of murder but admits one charge of perverting the course of justice.
Mr Huntley’s ex-girlfriend Maxine Carr, 26, denies attempting to pervert the course of justice and assisting an offender.
