holly wells and jessica chapman parents

Private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, working for the . Ian Huntley is found guilty of murdering both Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells. The images of their young faces, heads close together and wearing matching red football shirts, are fixed in our minds as we go about our daily lives, switching on news bulletins in the hope of good news, only to discover with sinking hearts that there has been none except perhaps the . He revealed: She was lost in a kind of wilderness whereas I was more hard-line about my emotions. [9], Following several weeks of mistreatment, Huntley's wife announced her intention to leave him. The 10-year-old best friends were inseperable - even when their lives were cruelly snatched away by vicious killer Ian Huntley 18 years ago today. Mark Tuck informed investigators that as he had driven past the girls on Sand Street in Soham town centre at approximately 6:30p.m. on 4 August,[44] his attention had been drawn toward their Manchester United replica shirts, causing him to remark to his wife, Lucy: "Look! [163] Huntley also enjoyed football, and was an avid supporter of Manchester United. [158], Ian Kevin Huntley was born in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, on 31 January 1974, the first of two sons born to Kevin Huntley and his wife, Lynda (ne Nixon). He applied for this using the alias Ian Nixon. [46] Police also received statements regarding a suspicious white van that had been seen in Soham on the evening of the children's disappearance. [229] Carr won an injunction on 24 February 2005, granting her lifelong anonymity on the grounds that her life would otherwise be in danger. After two months of courtship,[163] Huntley proposed to Evans. [192][195][n 14], While Capp resided with her mother in Grimsby, she unofficially adopted the surname Benson. [21] Over 400 officers were assigned full-time to search for the girls. [105] Investigators had stated on 7 August they strongly believed the children had been abducted,[39] and announced their strong suspicions that both girls had been murdered on this date. School caretaker Ian Huntley is currently serving a prison sentence for the young girls' murder. The findings also suggested a national system should be implemented for police forces to share intelligence information, and that all police forces should follow a clear code of practice on record-keeping. I wish I could see her now, see what shed have looked like, he said. I was the last person to see them!" It was one, almost two years before we found each other again, but grief gives you a different sense of the passage of time and it slipped by unnoticed.. The two-part show will cover the events both leading up to and . And soccer star David . "[111] Despite these revelations, Carr initially remained emotionally attached to Huntley and professed her belief in his innocence to both the police and her family. [113] Carr was also charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice on this date. A further two part, 60-minute documentary, commissioned by Channel 5, Channel 5 first broadcast the three-episode drama, This page was last edited on 24 February 2023, at 18:00. The murder took its toll on their marriage for a while, the pair have admitted. [15][16] Chapman's Nokia 6110 mobile phone was switched off at 6:46p.m.[17][1][18], At 8:00p.m., Nicola Wells entered her daughter's bedroom to invite the girls to say goodbye to her house guests, only to discover both children were missing. EVA REISTAD. [39], On 12 August, police launched a media appeal to trace the driver of a four-door, dark green saloon car. [55], After being informed of the discovery of the children's bodies and the evidence of Huntley's guilt, including his fingerprints being recovered from the bin in which the children's clothes had been found, Carr burst into tears, shouting: "No! [147], Referencing Huntley's likely motive for the murders and his claims at trial that both deaths had been accidental, Latham stated: "We invite you to reject the accounts of both deaths [being accidental] as desperate lies; the only way out for him. Wed, 17 Dec, 2003 - 13:00. [15], Within days of Huntley's formal sentencing, he reflected to the media on the prospect of spending the remainder of his life behind bars and of his fears for his security, exclaiming: "I'm going to rot inside this place. [135] Davey testified she had found minute traces of blood and saliva on these objects, but no positive traces of semen. Additional Score Recordings by TOM BAILEY JOHN WITT CHAPMAN. ", "Huntley Must Serve 40 Years at Least, Judge Rules", "Trail of Underage Sex and Violence that Led to Murders", "Rootless and Troubled Lives of Couple Suspected of Killing Holly and Jessica", "Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells: 18 Years on From The Soham Murders", "Ex-detective Says 'Unspectacular' Huntley Did Not Stand Out", "Former Neighbour Describes Huntley Paedophile Slurs and Former Girlfriend Reveals His Violent Behaviour", "He Charmed, Bullied and Lied His Way Through Life", "School Admits Huntley References Not Checked", "Maxine Carr is One More Huntley Victim: Why Do We Demonise Her? THE community of Soham was left heartbroken when the bodies of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells were discovered in 2002. Two decades ago, 10-year-old schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were murdered by their school caretaker Ian Huntley. The families of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells have laid the girls to rest at small private funerals almost a month after the 10-year-old best friends went missing. [10] At 5:04p.m., a photograph of the two friends was taken by Wells' mother before the children ate dinner with the other house guests. Two decades on, where are their parents now, and how have they moved on from the awful tragedy? The jury accepted her insistence that she had only lied to the police and media in order to protect Huntley because, prior to their arrest, she had believed his claims of innocence. [24], Huntley's car was also forensically examined on 16 August. Miss ya! He was never charged with this offence, but subsequently confessed to this attack in April 2007. Today, August 4, marks 20 years since schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman went missing after they left a family barbecue to buy sweets. Therefore, in this ruthless man's mind, both girls had to die in his own selfish self-interest." [240], An added complication in these criminal vetting procedures was the fact that Huntley had applied for the caretaker's job under the name of Ian Nixon, although he divulged on the application form for this position that he was previously known as Ian Huntley. [14], At the urging of his father, Huntley joined the Air Training Corps at age 13. [174], In April 1998, Huntley was arrested on suspicion of raping an 18-year-old woman. [97] By this date, police had received information from several Grimsby residents who had recognised Huntley in the television interviews he had given, and recalled that he had been accused of rape several years earlier. The girls were big David Beckham fans and were wearing matching red Manchester United tops with his name on when . Couple's daughter Holly and best friend Jessica Chapman killed in 2002 . It was one, almost two years before we found each other again, he continued, but grief gives you a different sense of the passage of time and it slipped by unnoticed. As Kevin says in the ITV documentary, he and Nicola were determined to be among the 5 per cent of couples who stay together following the bereavement of a murdered child. We have her pictures in and around the house, but its not a shrine we dont live in the past.. Holly Wells was a British murder victim from Soham, Cambridgeshire. At age 10, Wells and Chapman went missing from the Wells home on August 4, 2002, and were found dead on August 17, 2002, after going missing for almost two weeks. Two girls go missing in August of 2002, leaving their community reeling. A month later, Huntley was charged and remanded in custody at HM Prison Wolds for one week after another 18-year-old Grimsby woman claimed Huntley beat and raped her while she was walking home from a local nightclub. By Neil McLeod & David Brown. This revealed that the car had also been recently, extensively cleaned, but traces of a mixture of brick dust, chalk and concrete of the same type used to pave the road leading to where the girls' bodies would be discovered were found around the wheel arches and on and around the pedals. The inquiry scrutinised the investigation by Cambridgeshire Police into the children's disappearance and murder, as almost two weeks had elapsed following the disappearance of Wells and Chapman before Cambridgeshire Police became aware of Huntley's previous criminal background, despite his claims to be the last person to see the children alive. [140] He further claimed Chapman had witnessed this accident and began repeatedly screaming, "You pushed her! Discussing Huntley's mindset, Leslie Chapman opined: "I think he was a time bomb waiting to go off and both our girls were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Jessica Chapmans parents, Leslie and Sharon, have rarely spoken publicly about the murder. One heartbreaking aspect of the murder of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman was that parents everywhere could imagine that these could have been their children. PARENTS of pupils at an Ulster primary school are petrified that a "Holly and Jessica" - style tragedy could strike . [132][4], Referencing the likely motive for the girls' murder and the cause of death of each victim, Latham stated that due to the extensive state of decomposition of the bodies, the coroner had been unable to determine the precise cause of death of either child, or whether the girls had been sexually assaulted before or after death. [204][205], By 2001, Huntley had re-established contact with his father,[n 15] who worked as a school caretaker in Littleport, near Ely. Summary information is updated to reflect amendments since the report was initially filed. [50], In July 1998, police were notified that Huntley had sexually assaulted an 11-year-old girl in September 1997, having also threatened to kill the child if she informed her mother. Get back in the van! Their disappearance attracted international media attention and precipitated the biggest ever manhunt in Britain. Others said that, contrary to her televised claims, Carr had been socialising in Grimsby town centre on the night of the girls' disappearance, and was not at home in Soham as she had claimed to the media. [92], On 3 December, Carr went into the witness box to testify in her own defence. Ian Huntley accuses ex-girlfriend Maxine Carr of being a liar but hopes that she will move on after the murders of Jessica and Holly Source: Cambridgeshire Police Who is Maxine Carr? The girls' bodies were discovered on 17 August 2002. None were alive when Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman died on this day 20 years ago . [59], On 16 August, twelve days after the children's disappearance, Huntley and Carr were first questioned by police. [31], On 8 August,[32] CCTV footage of the girls, recorded minutes before their disappearance, was released to the public. Latham delivered his closing argument on behalf of the prosecution by describing Huntley and Carr as "accomplished liars"[143] before outlining the prosecution's case that both children had to die to satisfy Huntley's "selfish self-interest" before Huntleywith Carr's supporthad embarked on twelve days of "cynical deception", with Carr only revealing the truth to police after being informed of the discovery of the children's bodies. [24] One of these officers observed three vertical scratches on Huntley's left jaw, each measuring approximately three centimetres (1.2in), which he claimed had been recently inflicted by his dog. They were determined to be among the five per cent of couples who stay together after losing a child to murder. [82], Over the course of three days, Latham outlined the efforts of both defendants to divert suspicion away from Huntley, and Huntley's own efforts to destroy all physical and circumstantial evidence linking him to the crime,[24] but despite these efforts, investigators had retrieved enough evidence to show the children had been murdered within his home andwithin approximately twelve hours of their deathstransported in his vehicle to the location where their bodies were discovered on 17 August. [169] Shortly after their separation, Huntley's wife formed a relationship with and later married Huntley's younger brother, Wayne. On hearing this, Carr slumped forward. Kevin, who runs his own window cleaning business, is also the founding patron of the charity Grief Encounter. [238] Further criticism was directed at the force for their initial failure to scrutinise Carr's claims to have been in Soham on the date of the children's disappearance. Soham is a small town and civil parish located in the east of the university city Cambridge, in the United Kingdom. Its strange being three of us, when there used to be a fourth.. Then we could have stopped them, or done something about it. Clark concluded in October that, although psychopathic,[120] Huntley did not suffer from any major mental or psychotic illness. [221] This resulted in his hospitalisation and a thorough search of his cell, in which a cassette tape was recovered. Twenty . He was regarded as a loner, an oddball and an attention seeker by his peers, and became a target for bullies. "[28], Suspecting the children had been kidnapped, investigators questioned every registered sex offender in Cambridgeshire and neighbouring Lincolnshire. To download all election summary data click here. On one occasion, he beat his wife so badly she suffered a miscarriage. [69], Carr was also interviewed by the press during the second week of the search for the children. The harrowing story documenting the murder of childhood friends Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman airs tonight at 9pm on Channel 5. No family members are expected to take the stand. The couple married at Grimsby Register Office on 28 January 1995. [127], The trial of Huntley for the murders of Wells and Chapman opened at the Old Bailey on 5 November 2003 before Mr Justice Alan Moses; Huntley was charged with two counts of murder, to which he entered a plea of not guilty. [139] In the bathroom, he had slipped and accidentally knocked Wells into his bath while helping her stanch her nosebleed, and this unintentional act had caused her to drown as he "panicked and froze". Carr only replied to his missed call at 6:23p.m. [125][126][6], At a preliminary hearing at the Old Bailey on 16 June 2003, Huntley pleaded not guilty to the charges of murdering Wells and Chapman, and guilty to the charge both stood accused of: conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. [192], In 1993, Capp finished her schooling, having obtained no qualifications. Sharon worked at St Andrews primary school in Soham. [228] At the time, Carr was one of four former prisoners in the UK to be given a new identity upon release. Huntley's mother's maiden name had been Nixon. There's no trace of the building which once stood there, nor a memorial to the two young girls murdered inside. Ant and Dec drop huge hint SM:TV could be returning to our screens. A scenes of crime officer also testified that, despite Huntley's exhaustive efforts to remove physical evidence of his crime from his home, a forensic examination had revealed several traces of blood spattering about the hallway and main entrance to the master bedroom. [192] This employment was initially voluntary work, but Carr later became a teaching assistant in the school's Year 5 class. [8] Parr then returned home. Holly and Jessica's families still live in Soham. Jessica was a schoolgirl. Following the separation of his parents in 1993, Huntley chose to use his mother's surname. They briefly moved out of the family home where she spent her last day, though. [13], The precise events after the girls entered 5 College Close are unknown, but investigators believe sections of Huntley's later claims in initial interviews granted to the media prior to his arrest and his later trial testimonysuch as that he had been cleaning his dog at the time the girls passed by his house around 6:30p.m. and that one girl had been suffering from a nosebleedmay have been true. We had a flood. [160], Huntley was a timid child, and something of a mother's boy. Oliver Wells was 12 when Holly . He would typically use guile or force to achieve his desires. Now, almost 20 years on, Channel 5 tonight (March 10) continues its documentary series Soham: The Murder of Holly & Jessica. Ian Huntley was found guilty of their murders and sentenced to life in prison. Wells and Chapman became two of the pupils she taught,[17] and both girls were fond of her. . From the moment Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman are discovered missing (4th August 2002) every heart rending . Huntley saw the girls and lured them back to his house on the pretence that their teaching assistant Maxine Carr, his girlfriend was also at the house. ", "In a Secure Mental Unit, Huntley is Charged on Two Counts of Murder", "Inquest Into Deaths of Murdered Cambridgeshire Girls Opens Today", "Asphyxia 'Likely Cause' of Soham Deaths", "Funerals of Soham Girls Take Place in Private", "Holly and Jessica Laid to Rest in Private", "Caretaker was Sure Holly and Jessica had Not Run Away", "Missing Girls: Police Appeal to Abductor", "Arrested Couple Publicly Declared their Affection for Girls", "Old Bailey Jury Watches TV Interviews of Huntley and Carr", "Ownership of Red Fiesta is Key Issue in Soham Trial", "Two Held on Suspicion of Murdering Missing Girls", "Tearful Carr Confronted with Evidence Against Lover, Court Hears", "In a Secure Mental Unit, Ian Huntley is Charged On Two Counts of Murder", "Soham Accused Carr to Testify Via Prison Video Link", "Maxine Carr to Wed as She Finds Man Ready to Forget Her Past", "Holly, Jessica and the Unravelling of a Dark and Terrible Mystery", "Ian Huntley Back in Prison After Taking Drug Overdose", "Jessica's Mobile 'is Vital Clue to Murder', "Soham Trial Hears Further Witness Evidence", "Please Don't Think I Could Kill, Said Huntley in Call to Mother", "Huntley Story 'Highly Unlikely' Says Expert", "Soham Murders: How Ian Huntley's Killing of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman Shook the Nation", "Maxine Carr Takes the Stand to Tell the Court Why She Stood by Huntley", "Find Him Guilty of Manslaughter, QC Tells Jury", "Maxine Carr: What Happened to Ian Huntley's Girlfriend After the Soham Murders? Shortly thereafter, she briefly worked as a junior care assistant at a care home for the elderly in Grimsby, then returned to work alongside her mother as a labourer at Bluecrest fish processing plant. We have the professionals you need. I'll rot in here, I know it. [48] The initial speculation by the jogger had been that these mounds of earth might have been the burial locations of the two missing girls. [2], Huntley was convicted of the murder of both girls on 17 December 2003 and sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment, with the High Court later imposing a minimum term of 40 years. Their son Oliver and his partner Lydia Chambers had welcomed a baby called Ethan and were expecting their second child later that summer. [64] Pryer had noticed what he later described as an "unusual and unpleasant smell"[65] in the area several days earlier; when returning to the area with two friends on 17 August, he had decided to investigate the cause of this odour. Shortly before the two returned to College Close,[58] a neighbour of Carr's mother named Marion Clift saw the couple standing at the rear of the vehicle, with the boot open. . Holly's parents moved out of the home where she had spent her last day, enjoying a family barbeque with best friend Jessica, who had rushed . The Soham murders were a double child murder committed in Soham, Cambridgeshire, England on 4 August 2002.The victims were two 10-year-old girls, Holly Marie Wells and Jessica Aimee Chapman, who were lured into the home of a local resident and school caretaker, Ian Kevin Huntley, who subsequently murdered the childrenlikely via asphyxiationbefore disposing of their bodies in an . [118] Carr only severed contact with Huntley in December 2002. As for Hollys younger brother Oliver, who was six-years-old at the time of her murder, hes gone on to have a family of his own with his partner Lydia. Huntley had never been convicted of any of these criminal allegations; his burglary charge had remained on file. He then speculated Huntley's defence counsel may try and argue that he had been confused, commenting: "In that case, they would have to consider [Huntley's] behaviour over the fortnight between the girls' disappearance and their bodies being found. [206], In September 2001, Huntley responded to a job advertisement for a job as a senior caretaker at Soham Village College. [14] Pathological evidence retrieved from the bodies indicating at least one of the girls had been subjected to a sexual assault either before or after her murder was not disclosed to the jury at Huntley's trial. The parents of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman have long been commended for their dignity and grace during what can only be described as unimaginable heartbreak. [189], By the time Capp entered adolescence, she was slightly overweight, leading her to become insecure about her physical appearance. His explanation for this was that he wanted to convey to the media the frustration and despair the community was feeling. What is their net worth? [25][n 1], To help their public appeals for information, Cambridgeshire Police released the photograph Nicola Wells had taken of the children less than two hours before their disappearance depicting both girls wearing their Manchester United replica football shirts. [161], At both primary and secondary school, Huntley was an average scholar. Huntley supplied a DNA sample to assist in their enquiries, with Carr also providing an alibi to support his claims of innocence. There are few worse crimes than your murder of these two young girls. [72][n 6], Despite this, investigators rapidly deduced who the two victims most likely were, and that they had not died at the location of their discovery. G+. [54], Police were suspicious of Huntley's account. I hope the next time I see him, it will be like we saw our daughtersand it will be in a coffin. At about 6:15 p.m., Wells and Chapman decided to purchase some sweets at a nearby store (via Chilling . [230], At least a dozen women have been falsely identified as being Carr and either persecuted or physically attacked due to false stories speculating as to her whereabouts and new identity which have been printed in tabloid publications. His activities with this youth organisation fuelled an interest he had held since childhood for aeroplanes, and he seriously considered a future career with the Royal Air Force. Holly and Jessica had been playing together at a . Local Search Options. Wednesday 17 December 2003. They then returned to playing in Wells' bedroom at about 6:10p.m.[6][8], Around 6:15p.m., the two girls left the Wells residence without informing any of the house guests, to purchase sweets from a vending machine at the local sports centre. [69] Huntley had allegedly suspected Carr of conducting affairs throughout their relationship, leading his mother and some police officers to suspect he had killed the two girls in a fit of jealous rage. In the summer of 2002, two 10-year-old girls, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, went missing from their home in Soham. Available Until: 05 September 2026. That involved at all costs protecting Ian Huntley. [123] He was transferred to a segregation unit at Woodhill prison in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. The evidence and artefacts were not made public at the time, but the items recovered from the school grounds included items of clothing the girls had been wearing when last seen; their charred and cut Manchester United shirts were recovered from a bin in a hangar at Huntley's place of work. [152] On 17 December 2003, they returned a majority verdict of guilty on two counts of murder against Huntley. Today I accept there was nothing more or different as a parent I could have done to change the outcome, Kevin said at the time. . The killer's girlfriend, Maxine Carr, who was the girls' teaching . Via this hobby, he became familiar with the environs of RAF Lakenheath. [84] At the request of both families, the media refrained from reporting on either service. [9] By 3:15p.m., both girls had changed into distinctive replica Manchester United football shirts, one of which belonged to Wells, and the other to her older brother, Oliver. On 14 September 2005, while an inmate at HM Prison Wakefield, he was scalded with boiling water by convicted spree killer Mark Hobson. [198] According to Carr, she was "instantly attracted" to Huntley's self-confident and pleasant persona, and agreed to begin dating him that same evening.