Ian Huntley

4th August 2002, .Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, both 10-years-old, disappeared from their home town of Soham in Cambridgeshire. They had been playing in the bedroom of Holly Wells, at some stage in the early evening they decided to go out to buy sweets. On the way home they walked past their school. The caretaker, Huntley, invited them into the house where he stated that their teaching assistant, and Huntley's partner, Maxine Carr, was, but, she was in fact away. What happened after that will perhaps never be known. At about 8pm that evening both sets of parents became concerned and the police were called.  A major police investigation begun, including televised reconstructions of the girls last know whereabouits. 

In the days following the disappearances, Huntley gave several television interviews to media outlets speaking of the general shock in the local community and his dismay at being the last person to see the children alive.

17th August 2002, the girls bodies were found in a ditch by the fence at RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk.

20th August 2002, Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr are arrested and charged with two murders.
Read the full charges here >>

Monday 3rd November 2003, Ian Huntley & Maxine Carr appeared at the Old Bailey in London, accused of abducting and murdering Holly and Jessica.. The first two days consisted of legal and procedural issues and included swearing in the Jury. the trial proper began on Wednesday 5th November 2003.

Wednesday 17th December 2003. Huntley was sentenced to life imprisonment for double murder.
After his arrest Huntley was sectioned under the mental health act and was being held at a secure unit, and underwent extensive psychiatric tests.
Read the full trial here >>>

14 September 2005 Huntley was scalded with boiling water when another inmate attacked him.

29 September 2005, High Court Judge Mr Justice Moses, who presided over Huntley's original trial, ruled that he should spend 40 years in prison before he can be considered for parole.

5 September 2006, Huntley was found unconscious in his prison cell, thought to have taken an overdose.

27 September 2007, Huntley managed to get hold of enough drugs to take an overdose, the third occasion Huntley has done this. He was taken to Pinderfields hospital in West Yorkshire and returned shortly afterwards to HMP Wakefield

April 2007, Hailey Giblin, from Lincolnshire, was awarded a claim for civil damages against Huntley after a court ruled that he had molested her when she was aged 11. Huntley had admitted that in the summer of 1997 he had taken her from the street she lived in, to an orchard where she was subject to a sexual attack at his hands.

28 January 2008, Huntley was Moved to HMP Frankland prison in Durham after it was calculated that it was costing £1,128 per day to keep Huntley on 24 hour suicide watch.

March 2010, Huntley's throat slashed by fellow inmate Damien Fowkes. at HMP Frankland.   Huntley was in hospital for three days and needed 21 stitches,  the wound was 7in (18cm) long.

April 2019, reported in the media that Huntley had been placed in solitary confinement for allegedly attacking a prison officer.

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These are the charges against Ian Kevin Huntley and Maxine Ann Carr in full.

First count (Huntley): Murder
Ian Kevin Huntley on a day between the third day of August 2002 and the 18th day of August 2002 murdered Jessica Aimee Chapman.

Second count (Huntley): Murder
Ian Kevin Huntley on a day between the third day of August 2002 and the 18th day of August 2002 murdered Holly Marie Wells.

Third count (Carr): Assisting offender contrary to Section 4 (1) of the Criminal Law Act 1967
Ian Kevin Huntley having committed an arrestable offence, namely the murder of Jessica Aimee Chapman, Maxine Ann Carr between the third day of August 2002 and the 18th day of August 2002, knowing or believing that the said Ian Kevin Huntley had committed the said offence or some other arrestable offence, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse provided false accounts of her own whereabouts and the activities and whereabouts of the said Ian Kevin Huntley on the fourth day of August 2002 and the fifth day of August 2002 for the said Ian Kevin Huntley, with intent to impede the apprehension or prosecution of the said Ian Kevin Huntley.

Fourth count (Carr): Assisting offender contrary to Section 4 (1) of the Criminal Law Act 1967
Ian Kevin Huntley having committed an arrestable offence, namely the murder of Holly Marie Wells, Maxine Ann Carr between the third day of August 2002 and the 18th day of August 2002, knowing or believing that the said Ian Kevin Huntley had committed the said offence or some other arrestable offence, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse provided false accounts of her own whereabouts and the activities and whereabouts of the said Ian Kevin Huntley on the fourth day of August 2002 and the fifth day of August 2002, with intent to impede the apprehension or prosecution of the said Ian Kevin Huntley.

Fifth count (Huntley/Carr): Conspiracy to do acts tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice, contrary to Section 1 (1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977
Ian Kevin Huntley and Maxine Ann Carr on divers days between the third day of August 2002 and the 18th day of August 2002, with intent to pervert the course of public justice, conspired together to do a series of acts which had a tendency to pervert the course of public justice in that they agreed that they would falsely maintain to the police and/or to other persons that the said Maxine Ann Carr was in Soham in Cambridgeshire on the fourth day of August 2002 and on the fifth day of August 2002 and therefore able to corroborate the account of the said Ian Kevin Huntley as to his activities during the said two days.
Mr Huntley has already pleaded guilty to the charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, both 10, disappeared from their home town of Soham in Cambridgeshire on Sunday 4th August 2002. Their bodies were found in a ditch at Lakenheath, Suffolk, on 17th August 2003.
The trial started on Monday 3rd November 2003. the first two days consisted of legal and procedural issues and included swearing in the Jury. the trial proper began on Wednesday 5th November 2003. Jury returns decision on Wednesday 17th December 2003. GUILTY.

Monday November 3rd 2003
Trial of Ian Huntley & Maxine Carr begins in court number one at the Old Bailey central criminal court, London.

Tuesday 4th November
The jury of 7 women and 5 men are selected and sworn in.

Wednesday 5th November
The prosecution opens its case, alleging that Ian Huntley killed the girls in his home.

Thursday 6th November
The court is told by the prosecution that Ian Huntley "Sanitised" his car the day after the girls disappeared. They were also told that his hair was found on their clothing.

Monday 10th November
The Jury is taken to visit Soham in Cambridgeshire to see for themselves some of the key locations in the case.

Tuesday 11th November
The jury is taken to RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk to see the ditch where the bodies of holly & Jessica were found.

Wednesday 12th November
The court hears that Kevin Wells, Jessica's father, was approached by Ian Huntley during the first week after the disappearance.

Thursday 13th November
A witness tell the court that Ian Huntley knew of a Quiet area near RAF Lakenheath.

Friday 14th November
The court hears that on the night of the girls disappearance, Ian huntley told some local residents he had seen the girls, while ho told others he had not seen them.

Monday 17th November
The jury is told that Ian Huntley seemed "agitated" and burst into tears when interviewed by police.

Tuesday 18th November
The Old bailey court is told that Ian Huntley told a friend that the girls were dead, three days after the girls disappeared, and a week before the bodies were found.

Wednesday 19th November
The jury is told that Ian Huntley was interviewed by many journalists, he told one, "Police think l did it".

Thursday 20th November
A police witness in court describes how he discovered the clothes of Holly and Jessica, the find, leading to the arrest of Ian Huntley.

Monday 24th November
Ian Huntley admits cutting off the clothes off the bodies as they lay in a ditch at RAF Lakenheath.

Tuesday 25th November
Ian Huntley says the girls died in the bathroom at his house. He claims Holly fell in the bath, Jessica started screaming, he put his hand over her mouth to keep her quiet.

Wednesday 26th November
The Old Bailey jury hears that Ian Huntley was charged and subsequently acquitted of rape in 1998. He suffered a nervous breakdown after this. Pathologist Dr. Nat Cary was giving evidence on the situation surrounding the girls death.

Thursday 27th November
Maxine Carr tell the court that Ian Huntley told her the girls had visited his home, but left shortly after.

Friday 28th November
The jury are played telephone conversations between Huntley and his mother.

Monday 1st December
Defense starts its case. Ian Huntley takes the stand. He admits the girls died in his house, but denies murder.

Tuesday 2nd December
Under cross examination, Huntley admits that he is responsible for the deaths of Holly and Jessica.

21 Wednesday 3rd December
Maxine Carr states that although she was in love with Huntley, she would not cover up murder for
him.

Thursday 4th December
Maxine Carr cries in court as she says "That thing" made me lie for him.

Friday 5th December
Legal discussion, with no Jury present.

Monday 8th December & Tuesday 9th December
No trial on these days due to illness amongst the jury.

Wednesday 10th December
Summing up from the prosecution and defence.

Thursday 11th December
Closing statements and summing up by the judge.

Friday 12th December
The judge directs the jury to retire and consider the verdict. they must return a unanimous verdict.

Wednesday 17th December
It becomes apparent that the jury were struggling with a decision. The judge directs the jury that he will consider a majority verdict. within an hour the jury returned with a verdict.
Ian Huntley found guilty of murder in the case of Holly Wells & Jessica Chapman
Maxine Carr found NOT GUILTY in assisting an offender, but, Guilty of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.
HUNTLEY SENTENCED TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT
MAXINE CARR SENTENCED TO THREE AND A HALF YEARS FOR PERVERTING THE COURSE OF JUSTICE. SHE WAS RELEASED IN THE SUMMER OF 2004.
It emerged after the trial that Huntley has been under suspicion in the past of rape, and of child abuse. an investigation is to be carried out as to how he gained a job of trust within a school.