Post by Salem6 on Dec 17, 2003 12:19:00 GMT
Ian Huntley has been found guilty of the murders of Soham schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.
Maxine Carr, 26, was convicted at the Old Bailey of conspiring to pervert the course of justice but cleared of assisting an offender.
The 10-year-olds vanished from the Cambridgeshire town on 4 August 2002. Their bodies were found on 17 August.
Huntley murdered 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman
Huntley, 29, had admitted they died at his home and he dumped their bodies, but claimed it was an accident.
Past accusations
As the verdicts came in, it emerged that Huntley had been accused of underage sexual relations several times when he lived in Grimsby in the late 1990s.
One of his alleged victims was a young girl, 11, who claimed to be indecently assaulted by a man called Ian when she was 10 years old.
Huntley, who was living in her street at the time, was arrested but never prosecuted.
Friends and acquaintances also painted a picture of a moody, domineering young man.
Former girlfriend Maxine Carr was guilty of perverting the course of justice
In court, Huntley said Holly died after falling into his bath, and he killed Jessica by putting his hand over her mouth to stop her screaming.
He then panicked about "what people would believe" and decided to dispose of the bodies - in a remote ditch in Lakenheath, Suffolk - rather than dial 999.
But the prosecution laid out an alternative version of events - that Huntley lured Holly and Jessica into his house, possibly with a sexual motivation, and murdered them when his plan went wrong.
He then coldly went about destroying the evidence and trying to hide his involvement to police, press and local residents.
He systematically tackled any forensic evidence that could be against him - including dumping their bodies in a remote spot; attempting to burn their clothes; changing his car tyres and scrubbing the house to remove all trace of them.
Clothes found
During the search for the girls, he carried out a series of media interviews knowing the girls were dead, and even actively sought out Holly's father Kevin to offer his sympathy.
Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman died in August 2002
The girls' bodies were found by accident at the RAF base on 17 August.
Earlier on the same day Huntley and the girls' classroom assistant Ms Carr were arrested.
Suspicious of the fact Huntley was the last known person to see the girls, police took him and Carr in for questioning and searched their home.
They found a set of keys to a college outbuilding known as the "hangar". And in a bin in the outbuildings, they found the girls' red tops, tracksuit bottoms, underwear and shoes at the bottom of an aluminium bin.
A forensic examination revealed a strand of Huntley's hair mixed in with the garments. His fingerprints were found on a bin bag placed on top.
Ms Carr admitted to the court that she had lied to police to provide an alibi for her boyfriend.
But she denied she even suspected he had been involved in the girls' deaths, and was only trying to protect him from being wrongly accused.
She also claimed Huntley was "very controlling" and put her in a position where she had to make a false statement to police.
String of allegations
North East Lincolnshire Social Services said they had received four complaints of underage sexual relations against Huntley in the late 1990s.
They said none of the victims wanted to make a formal complaint, so there was nothing they could do against him.
There was a fifth complaint, this time of indecent assault, which police investigated. However no prosecution followed.
Humberside Police said he was reported to them eight times by alleged victims, and he was also arrested once for failure to appear at court.
He was also investigated over a rape allegation but - as his trial heard - this action never came to court.
Cambridgeshire and Humberside Police are also likely to face criticism over the procedures for checking Huntley's references before he was given the job at Soham Village College.
Maxine Carr, 26, was convicted at the Old Bailey of conspiring to pervert the course of justice but cleared of assisting an offender.
The 10-year-olds vanished from the Cambridgeshire town on 4 August 2002. Their bodies were found on 17 August.
Huntley murdered 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman
Huntley, 29, had admitted they died at his home and he dumped their bodies, but claimed it was an accident.
Past accusations
As the verdicts came in, it emerged that Huntley had been accused of underage sexual relations several times when he lived in Grimsby in the late 1990s.
One of his alleged victims was a young girl, 11, who claimed to be indecently assaulted by a man called Ian when she was 10 years old.
Huntley, who was living in her street at the time, was arrested but never prosecuted.
Friends and acquaintances also painted a picture of a moody, domineering young man.
Former girlfriend Maxine Carr was guilty of perverting the course of justice
In court, Huntley said Holly died after falling into his bath, and he killed Jessica by putting his hand over her mouth to stop her screaming.
He then panicked about "what people would believe" and decided to dispose of the bodies - in a remote ditch in Lakenheath, Suffolk - rather than dial 999.
But the prosecution laid out an alternative version of events - that Huntley lured Holly and Jessica into his house, possibly with a sexual motivation, and murdered them when his plan went wrong.
He then coldly went about destroying the evidence and trying to hide his involvement to police, press and local residents.
He systematically tackled any forensic evidence that could be against him - including dumping their bodies in a remote spot; attempting to burn their clothes; changing his car tyres and scrubbing the house to remove all trace of them.
Clothes found
During the search for the girls, he carried out a series of media interviews knowing the girls were dead, and even actively sought out Holly's father Kevin to offer his sympathy.
Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman died in August 2002
The girls' bodies were found by accident at the RAF base on 17 August.
Earlier on the same day Huntley and the girls' classroom assistant Ms Carr were arrested.
Suspicious of the fact Huntley was the last known person to see the girls, police took him and Carr in for questioning and searched their home.
They found a set of keys to a college outbuilding known as the "hangar". And in a bin in the outbuildings, they found the girls' red tops, tracksuit bottoms, underwear and shoes at the bottom of an aluminium bin.
A forensic examination revealed a strand of Huntley's hair mixed in with the garments. His fingerprints were found on a bin bag placed on top.
Ms Carr admitted to the court that she had lied to police to provide an alibi for her boyfriend.
But she denied she even suspected he had been involved in the girls' deaths, and was only trying to protect him from being wrongly accused.
She also claimed Huntley was "very controlling" and put her in a position where she had to make a false statement to police.
String of allegations
North East Lincolnshire Social Services said they had received four complaints of underage sexual relations against Huntley in the late 1990s.
They said none of the victims wanted to make a formal complaint, so there was nothing they could do against him.
There was a fifth complaint, this time of indecent assault, which police investigated. However no prosecution followed.
Humberside Police said he was reported to them eight times by alleged victims, and he was also arrested once for failure to appear at court.
He was also investigated over a rape allegation but - as his trial heard - this action never came to court.
Cambridgeshire and Humberside Police are also likely to face criticism over the procedures for checking Huntley's references before he was given the job at Soham Village College.
By Peter Gould 
