It’s almost 20 years since the horrific Soham murders took place, with Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr’s crimes being revisited on Maxine on Channel 5 – but how was Ian Huntley caught?
The couple, who lived together, were convicted for their parts in the barbaric killings of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, which happened on the evening of August 4 2002.
The victims – 10-year-old best friends – had been at a family barbecue together.
They left to get some sweets from a local leisure centre vending machine, but never made it home.
Tragically, Ian Huntley had lured them into his home, where he killed them and dumped their bodies in woodland 10 miles away.
What gave Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr’s crimes away?
At first, it seemed that brutal killer Huntley was another concerned member of the community.
He was interviewed on the news and almost courted the press during the search for the two children.
But the mask soon slipped, and both Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr were given jail terms.
One of the first mistakes that Ian Huntley made – much to the benefit of the police – was to insert himself into the investigation.
It appeared that Huntley almost wanted to be close to the search.
He ended up making himself a person of interest by revealing during an interview he was the last person to see Holly and Jessica alive.
He initially told them they had left his home “happy as Larry”, but clues started to add up that would suggest the truth was much more sinister.
How was Ian Huntley caught? Jessica Chapman’s mobile phone
Another clue that caused detectives to seriously consider his involvement in their disappearance was Jessica’s mobile phone.
The time of the final signal from her mobile phone showed that, at the very least, her handset was in Ian Huntley’s house at 6.46pm on the same evening she went missing.
Like many killers, Huntley had believed himself able to get away with his crimes by thinking he had removed trace evidence – something he had some level of knowledge about.
But it was nowhere near enough.
Soham murders forensic evidence
Despite his best efforts to completely remove DNA from his house and car the day after the murders, Ian had left behind vital pieces of evidence.
Tiny fibres from their famous Manchester United football shirts were found.
This forensically linked the girls to both his car and house – meaning he couldn’t deny some involvement in their disappearance.
Later in the investigation, police had their suspicions confirmed.
They found the charred remains of the girls’ matching football tops, tracksuit bottoms, underwear and shoes at the bottom of a bin.
The evidence against the vile killer was overwhelming.
How was Ian Huntley caught? Maxine Carr’s role in the case
Maxine Carr, who went on to be convicted of perverting the course of justice, gave a false alibi for Huntley.
This meant he was initially eliminated from the investigation.
However, she was pictured on the night she said she was home with Huntley in a pub in Grimsby – 110 miles away.
And one important clue suggested she was lying before the girls were found.
A TV interview, from when the search was ongoing, showed Carr talking about Holly in the past tense.
Footage shows their former teaching assistant tell a Sky News reporter: “Nobody believes that they would ever run away.
“They were very close to all their family.
“This is something I’ll probably keep for the rest of my life, I think.
“It’s what Holly gave me on the last day of term.
“She gave me this with a poem on the inside saying ‘to a special teaching assistant’ really, and we’ll miss her a lot and we’ll see her in the future.
“And that’s the kind of girl she was. She was just lovely, really lovely.”
Journalists and police released she was talking about Holly as if she was already dead.
Ian Huntley and Maxine Court sentences
Ian and Maxine faced trial in 2003 and were both convicted for their roles in the horrific murders.
Huntley is serving a 40-year minimum jail term.
He will not have a chance to apply for parole until he is 71.
Maxine received a three-and-a-half-year sentence, serving just 21 months before she was released.
She was granted an anonymity order and recently got married.
Maxine, which starts on Monday October 10 2022 at 9pm on Channel 5, looks at her role in the barbaric and senseless crime.
Read more: Where are Holly and Jessica’s parents now? What have they said about the Soham Murders?
Maxine starts on Monday October 10 2022 at 9pm on Channel 5, and will also be available on My5.
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