Soham Murders
| Jessica Chapman Holly Wells |
|
|---|---|
| Born |
Jessica Aimee Chapman Holly Marie Wells 1 September 1991 (Chapman) 4 October 1991 (Wells) Soham, Cambridgeshire, England |
| Died | Both c. 4 August 2002 (aged 10) Soham, Cambridgeshire, England |
| Body discovered | Lakenheath, Suffolk, England |
| Parent(s) | Leslie and Sharon Chapman Kevin and Nicola Wells |
| Ian Huntley | |
|---|---|
Ian Huntley
|
|
| Born |
Ian Kevin Huntley 31 January 1974 Grimsby, Lincolnshire |
| Other names | Ian Nixon |
| Occupation | School caretaker |
| Criminal penalty | Life imprisonment (40-year minimum term) |
| Criminal status | Convicted |
| Conviction(s) | Murder |
| Maxine Carr | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Maxine Ann Carr 16 February 1977 Grimsby, Lincolnshire |
| Occupation | Teaching assistant |
| Criminal penalty | 42 months' imprisonment |
| Criminal status | Released |
| Conviction(s) | Perverting the course of justice |
The Soham murders occurred in Soham, Cambridgeshire, England, on 4 August 2002. The victims were two 10-year-old girls, Holly Marie Wells and Jessica Aimee Chapman. Their bodies were found near RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk, on 17 August 2002, by a local farm worker.
Ian Kevin Huntley, a caretaker at local secondary school Soham Village College, was convicted on 17 December 2003 of the girls' murder and sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment, with the High Court later setting a minimum term of 40 years.
His girlfriend, Maxine Ann Carr, was the girls' teaching assistant at St Andrew's Primary School. Carr had provided Huntley with a false alibi and received a three-and-a-half year prison sentence for perverting the course of justice.
On Sunday, 4 August 2002, Wells and Chapman had attended a barbecue at Wells' home in Redhouse Gardens, Soham. At around 6:15 pm, they went out to buy some sweets. On their way back they walked past the home of Ian Huntley, a secondary school caretaker, in College Close. Huntley saw the girls and asked them to come into his house. He said that his girlfriend, Maxine Carr, their teaching assistant at St Andrew's Primary School, was in the house too. She had in fact gone to visit family in Grimsby, Lincolnshire. Shortly after the girls entered her house, Huntley murdered them.
Huntley's motive for killing Wells and Chapman may never be known, but minutes before seeing them he had reportedly slammed the telephone down on Carr following a furious argument; Huntley had allegedly suspected Carr of cheating on him. The police suspected that Huntley killed the girls in a fit of jealous rage. Huntley's mother also said that she suspected this. The police found no evidence of premeditation.
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