Soham murders

Jessica Chapman
Holly Wells
Jessica Chapman (left) and Holly Wells (right), mid-2002
BornJessica: (1991-09-01)1 September 1991
Holly: (1991-10-04)4 October 1991
Soham, Cambridgeshire, England
DiedBoth c. 4 August 2002(2002-08-04) (aged 10)
Soham, Cambridgeshire, England
Body discovered17 August 2002
Lakenheath, Suffolk, England
Resting placeSoham Cemetery, Cambridgeshire, England
52°19′30″N 0°20′51″E / 52.325126°N 0.347461°E / 52.325126; 0.347461
Known forVictims of child murder

The Soham murders were a double child murder committed in Soham, Cambridgeshire, England, on 4 August 2002. 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 subsequently murdered them – likely via asphyxiation – and disposed of their bodies in an irrigation ditch close to RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk. The bodies were discovered on 17 August 2002.[2]

Huntley was convicted of the murder of both girls on 17 December 2003 and sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment, with the High Court later imposing a minimum term of 40 years. His girlfriend, Maxine Ann Carr – the girls' teaching assistant – had knowingly provided Huntley with a false alibi.[3] She received a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence for conspiring with Huntley to pervert the course of justice.[4]

The search for Holly and Jessica in the thirteen days of their disappearance has been described as one of the most intense and extensive in British criminal history.[5][6]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference The Guardian was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Two arrested in girls' murder enquiry". BBC News. 17 August 2002. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  3. ^ "Maxine Carr gave alibi to save me, not to deceive police". The Telegraph. 3 December 2003. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
  4. ^ "Judge gives Huntley forty years – and little hope". The Daily Telegraph. 30 September 2005. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  5. ^ "Caretaker charged with murder of two girls and sent to Rampton". The Telegraph. 21 August 2002. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  6. ^ "Last hours of Holly and Jessica". The Evening Standard. 6 November 2003. Retrieved 4 November 2019.