Did Maxine Carr know?

[ahunf]

I assumed she did. I know it's not based on fact but after watching the Maxine programme I thought maybe she didn't know. The "no comment" at the very end made me think.

Who can be sure what she knew or not, but I'd bet she was so scared of him she would have agreed to say whatever he told her to say.

She could have been terrified that if she told the truth, he could still have been released and given her another battering or worse.

Abused and terrified people don't always have the luxury of choosing to do the "right thing"

I do think people were more shocked by a woman’s involvement in these things back then, even though obviously we’d had Hindley and Rose West. People were still really shocked when a woman played any part in a crime, especially when it involved children even if she didn’t directly play a part as such. I think nowadays she would have been quickly forgotten about. We know all too well women can be just as awful - Emma Tustin springs to mind, and the recent story about the murder of 15 year old Sebastian (apologies if I’ve not got his name 💯 right there) where his Mum was as much an abuser as his step dad. Clearly Maxine wasn’t equal to either of these cases but the point is we’re less shocked by nasty, lying women now.

I don't think so, she might have on a subconscious level but been in some serious denial.

I agree. It’s hideous that those parents have to see their kids’ murders as entertainment.

I was the same age as Holly and Jessica when it happened and it is the first real news story that hit me. I was absorbed in it, but too young to really understand, and from the coverage I saw it seemed she was just as guilty as he was.

It wasn't until she was released when I was older that I looked into her involvement, shocked that she had been released so soon...and realised that she was a victim herself. I really don't think she knew.

I talk about children I’ve worked with in the past tense.

I think she was abused and obviously came to believe that the police were out to get innocent Huntley after other charges had been dropped.
the press treated her very badly.

People and the media always become body language and verbal language 'experts' when things like this happen

My god I'd be convicted 10 times over if people heard the gaffes I make when Im talking about things, people say things in different ways sometimes.

I don't think the past tense used in that interview is as revelatory as a lot of folk think. The reporter referred to them in the past tense first. Natural to respond in the same tense. She may also nave known or suspected that they were dead but not known at all that Huntley had done it.

If she knew, then the footage of her reaction when the news was broken to her that he was responsible makes her a better actress than I ever thought possible. It would be very difficult, I should imagine, to simulate that level of shock, horror and denial, the latter being one of the more immediate documented reactions to horrific, unpalatable news.

At worst, she might have suspected what she didn't want to admit, but it's highly unlikely she knew. The false comparisons with Myra Hindley (a liar and fool who failed to grasp the ramifications of providing a false alibi versus an abductor, accessory to rape and child murderer) were ridiculous even at the time.

Another instance of a woman made culpable for the actions of a man? She's a criminal and was punished for it, but she's not of the same ilk as Hindley or West.

I also agree with a PP who said naïve and/or young women tend to just believe everything they're told by a partner they (for whatever reason, sometimes as just why wouldn't they) trust.

Similar to the PP, I also had an ex who was on drugs. I had absolute NO IDEA. And I was much older than 24, too! No idea whatsoever. Drugs just weren't part of my proverbial vocabulary, I had no experience of the signs of such, and no idea that I'd have got with someone who did them-I just didn't ever think about it at all! I was about 31 when I found out I think and others had suspected and I'd lied to them effectively by saying 'Oh no of course not! I'd have noticed!' but I didn't and hadn't. I am a fairly intelligent person but I just trusted my partner, she'd have told me, wouldn't she if there was something so (to me!) serious about her going on.

I don't think she did- , she seemed desparate to keep a bloke for whatever reason- and just went along with him and did as she was told and was incredibly naive and not very bright

This. She wasn’t a nice person either way.

Sadly, someone in an abusive relationship is conditioned not to think for themselves.

Abuse relies on stripping the victim of their own thoughts and feelings, so they can be replaced by those of the perpetrator.

He will have controlled everything in her life. He said he didn't do it, she wouldn't have had the mental autonomy to question it.

He had beaten every last independent thought out of her.

I thought she was abused when I first saw her on TV. Noone considered she'd been coerced and controlled by that tw@t.

Honestly, I'm not sure she should have been prosecuted, I don't think she knew.

I’ve never thought she knew. She seemed genuinely horrified when she was told.
I think she was just convinced by the creep to lie because, as he put it, the police might try and “fit him up”.

i never thought she knew even when it happened=i belive he threatened her into giving an alibi

I've just watched the first 2 episodes. I'm not sure that she did fully know, although I think that she was absolutely terrified of him and of course she didn't want to think he had done it. She had clearly been very badly abused by him. Absolutely awful all round.

It might have been 20 years ago, but I remember it pretty well. The shocking things about it were that Huntley had given interviews to TV crews and the press then turned out to be the main suspect. He also worked in a position of trust that brought him into contact with kids and, iirc, turned out to have a disturbing history of sexual interest in young women/girls.

Huntley got a 40 year sentence and is still in prison. There's nothing of interest for the tabloids there now.

This

IMO she knew, even if it was deep down. She was all about self preservation and stuff anyone else.

It was clear to me watching her reaction when told that they had overwhelming evidence against Huntley that she didn't know. She was abused and manipulated and served more than her time for her actual crime - perverting the course of justice. She wasn't there, she didn't do anything and she didn't hinder the bodies being found - as that was a lucky accident. She was pilloried by the press and obviously people still think she is more "guilty" of something than she actually is, going on this thread alone. As pp have said, she isn't the brightest and if you think about it, it's always a leap to think your bf killed 2 children in your house whilst you were away for the weekend. Most of us would struggle to believe that to be possible of our partners. Yet it happens. He convinced her to lie for him and she has been MORE than punished for that.

I agree with this, I think even if not at first, he probably told her what he'd done - but as all abusers do, convinced her it was somehow her fault, or she'd be held at fault
"If you hadn't left me to go out with your friends"
"If you had given me more sex"
"If you hadn't made me mad before you left"
"They'll think you knew and were involved even though you weren't here"
"They've got no proof anyway so they can't do anything" (thus implying that if she said something, he'd get away with it and she'd have to live with the concequences)

My abusive ex never murdered anyone, but he used everyone of those sentences to turn his shitty behaviour on to me, it's a classic abuse tactic and that won't have been the first time he'd done it.

Regarding the fact Maxine used past tense- The reporter didn't ask her a question in the past tense, she was telling the story of the card Holly had written her when she said "that's the kind of girl she was."

I think she knew. But we will never know! I wish the drama was more clear if the "no comment" was actually real.

Does anyone have a link to the footage of when she was told that the overwhelming evidence please

I can't find it anywhere, all I can find is an account of her interview where she denies he could have done it

amp.theguardian.com/uk/2003/nov/28/soham.ukcrime2