The victims were two 10-year-old girls, Holly Marie Wells and Jessica Amiee Chapman, who were lured into the home of a local resident and school caretaker, Ian Kevin Huntley,[1] who murdered them – likely via asphyxiation – and disposed of their bodies in an irrigation ditch close to RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk.

They returned to playing upstairs in the house at about 6:10 p.m.[6][8] At approximately 6:15 p.m., the two girls left the Wells residence without informing anyone to buy sweets from a vending machine at the local sports centre.

While returning to 4 Redhouse Gardens,[11] Wells and Chapman walked past the College Close home of Ian Huntley, the senior caretaker at the local secondary school.

[15][16] Chapman's Nokia 6110 mobile phone was switched off at 6:46 p.m.[17][1][18] At 8:00 p.m., Nicola Wells entered her daughter's bedroom to invite the girls to say goodbye to her guests, only to discover both children missing.

[24][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.

Mark Tuck informed investigators that as he had driven past the girls on Sand Street in Soham town centre at approximately 6:30 p.m. on 4 August,[43] his attention had been drawn toward their Manchester United replica shirts, causing him to remark to his wife, Lucy: "Look!

[8] Another woman living in nearby Little Thetford claimed to have seen two girls whose appearance and clothing matched those of Wells and Chapman walking past her home the morning after they had been reported missing.

[46] The following evening, a jogger alerted police to two mounds of recently disturbed earth he had seen at Warren Hill, just outside Newmarket, which he speculated might have been the burial locations of the two girls.

[49][n 4] According to Huntley, Wells and Chapman – both "happy as Larry"[51] – had briefly enquired as to whether his partner, Carr, had been successful in a recent application for a full-time teaching assistant position at their school.

Shortly before the two returned to College Close,[57] a neighbour of Carr's mother named Marion Clift saw the couple standing at the rear of the vehicle, with the boot open.

[82][n 8] These conclusions were physically supported by an analysis of the shoots of nettles at the crime scene which enabled forensic ecologist and palynologist Patricia Wiltshire to estimate that the bodies had been placed at this location almost two weeks before.

Both services were held at St Andrew's parish church and officiated by Tim Alban Jones, and the girls are buried in graves next to each other in Soham's Fordham Road Cemetery, following ceremonies attended by only family and close friends.

[89] In one interview with Sky News correspondent Jeremy Thompson during the second week of the search, he claimed to be holding on to a "glimmer of hope"[60] the children would be found safe and well, and that he had last seen the girls walking in the direction of a local library.

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.

[82] In his opening statement on behalf of the Crown, prosecutor Richard Latham QC described the last day of the girls' lives and how, by "pure chance", they had happened to pass by Huntley's home at a time when Carr was not present.

[128] Latham described how mobile phone records and eyewitness accounts placed Carr in Grimsby on the evening in question,[129] showing the statements she had given to police and press had been false.

This had included fibre evidence retrieved from Huntley's vehicle, clothes and carpets which had been a "precise match" to the Manchester United shirts the girls had been wearing at the time of their disappearance.

On this date, a forensic scientist, Helen Davey, testified about the biological evidence recovered from the girls' clothing, footwear and a dishcloth discovered in the hangar at Soham Village College on 16 August.

By the time his state of panic had waned, it had been too late to save the lives of either of the children[49] and that his first coherent memory had been of sitting on his vomit-stained landing close to Chapman's body.

Referencing Carr's conscious efforts to deceive the police and media alike, Latham stated: "She had the prospect of marriage, a baby, a nice home and a new start.

"[157] Huntley avoided eligibility for a whole life tariff as the passing of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 had been one day after his conviction, thus taking effect on 18 December 2003 and applying solely to murders committed on or after this date.

The reason for this decision had been that both bodies were too extensively decomposed and damaged by fire to enable a conclusive determination of either the actual cause of death or if either girl had been subjected to a sexual assault.

[183][n 15] Following his arrest, several former girlfriends and sexual partners stated that Huntley presented himself as a charming and considerate man in the early stages of a relationship, but would become domineering and violent upon having established control.

She briefly worked alongside her mother in a fish processing plant as she considered which career path she should choose before enrolling at the Grimsby Institute of Further & Higher Education, having chosen to study general care.

[210] One of the children to express dismay at this decision was Wells, who having broken down in tears upon learning Carr's application for the teaching position had been unsuccessful, presented her with a hand-drawn card,[211] depicting a smiling face, in which she stated: "I'll miss you a lot.

[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.

These disclosures revealed that not only had police failed to pursue numerous previous criminal complaints of sexual offences against underage girls and young women by Huntley, but he had then secured a job in Soham allowing him access to children.

[237] The stated purpose of the Bichard inquiry was: Urgently to enquire into child protection procedures in Humberside Police and Cambridgeshire Constabulary in the light of the recent trial and conviction of Ian Huntley for the murder of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells.

In particular to assess the effectiveness of the relevant intelligence-based record keeping, the vetting practices in those forces since 1995 and information sharing with other agencies, and to report to the Home Secretary on matters of local and national relevance and make recommendations as appropriate.One of the issues scrutinised by the Bichard report surfaced almost immediately when Humberside Police stated their belief that it was unlawful under the Data Protection Act to hold data regarding criminal allegations which had not led to a conviction; this claim was criticised by other police forces who thought this too strict an interpretation of the Act.

The Chief Constable of Cambridgeshire Constabulary, Tom Lloyd, was also subjected to severe criticism as his force had failed to contact Humberside Police during the investigation into Huntley's criminal background prior to his securing employment at Soham Village College.