Nobody is arguing with you KK!
This article out of the Observer sums up the whole thing from the start up until now. In the pile of media coverage I hadn't realised that the girls had been seen on a CCTV camera somewhere.
(Sic) basically means their words not mine. I'm probably pointing out the obvious there but it just avoids confusion.
"The massive manhunt (sic)- and the nightmare of two families - was played out under the glare of relentless publicity
Paul Harris, Tracy McVeigh and Euan Ferguson
Sunday August 18, 2002
The Observer
It was the end of a long, happy afternoon. Despite the mixed weather on Sunday 4 August, the Wells family's barbecue was a success. Now, as the sky darkened, the guests began to leave the quiet suburban Soham back garden.
Nicola Wells popped inside to call for her daughter, Holly, 10, who was upstairs with best friend, Jessica Chapman, also 10. The two were inseparable and had spent the day together. Wells stood at the bottom of the stairs and called: 'Come and say goodbye.'
There was no response from the silent house. She called again, several times. Still no answer. Bemused she went upstairs and peered through Holly's bedroom door. The room was empty. Holly and Jessica had vanished.
It was the start of two weeks of unbearable agony, first for the girls' families, then for Soham and finally for the entire country as one of Britain's largest ever manhunts (sic) unfolded. The tragedy gripped Britain from rural cornershops to inner-city pubs.
For two weeks conversation has been dominated by the fate of the little girls. Now, with the arrest of Soham school caretaker Ian Huntley and former teaching assistant Maxine Carr on suspicion of murder, the massive investigation has come to a tragic conclusion.
It is an inquiry that has rippled out from the flat, dreary Fenlands to Westminster's corridors of power. It dragged in officers from almost half the police forces in Britain. The search involved divers, profilers and even a Tornado jet. Huge rewards were posted by newspapers, prompting outcry and congratulation in equal measure.
Perhaps never before has the conduct of the press come under such scrutiny for its role in hindering - or helping - the police. The spectre of paedophiles stalking our children has been a constant theme. Hardly a parent can have looked at their own child and not thought: 'There but for the grace of God.' The manhunt (sic) also prompted calls to set up a British version of the FBI, a specialist police group that could respond to major inquiries anywhere in the country. It would be one of the biggest shake-ups ever to hit British policing and is now on the agenda like never before.
But in the end it was a simple tragedy. A tale of parents caught up in panic and fear over their daughters' lives. Of a worst nightmare coming suddenly true. And all of it being played out in the public glare of the television cameras.
THE LAST SIGHTINGS
Holly and Jessica had been friends since they were four. Jessica was the tomboy (sic), who swam for the county and played football for Soham Town Rangers under-11s. Holly was more of a 'girly girl', a majorette who loved make-up, singing and dancing. Both came from stable, loving families, people aware of the dangers facing young children and who had lectured their daughters on staying in touch. Jessica, in particular, had taken the warning to heart.
While away from home, she would use her mobile eight or nine times a day to ring her mother, Sharon. She was only allowed to visit a few friends' homes by herself. Jessica had rung home twice on the Sunday she disappeared, letting her mum know she was at Holly's giving her a present bought on holiday in Menorca. It was a necklace. It can be seen in the last picture ever taken of the pair, an image that now stares out from countless posters across Britain, of two smiling girls in red Manchester United shirts. A clock behind shows 5.04pm.
What happened after that photo was taken is still a mystery. This is what we know: between 5.11 and 5.35 the girls used the computer in Holly's bedroom. They then slipped out of the house. At around 5.45, Huntley, who was washing his Alsatian, Sadie, outside his house, saw them walk by. He said they chatted about his girlfriend Carr's failure to get a job at their school. Huntley told police they were 'happy as Larry'.
At 6.17 CCTV footage showed the girls crossing the car park of the Ross Peers sports centre. They may have bought sweets from the vending machine. Other sightings place them at 6.45 in the centre of Soham. Finally, at 7.20, Margaret Willers, 43, spotted the girls walking on the High Street near Sergio's Italian restaurant. She knew them and mentioned it to her husband, Mick. What happened next is unknown. 'As we drove back 10 minutes later, I looked out for them. But they had gone,' Willers said.
Sometime shortly after, the girls were abducted. At the Wells' house, Holly's mother was calling for her daughter just before 8.30, Holly's deadline for being back indoors. Panic began to set in. She tried ringing Holly's phone, but it lay upstairs. At 8.45 Nicola rang Jessica's mother. She immediately called Jessica's mobile, but it was switched off. A frantic ring-around of friends and relations began. The two fathers drove around in their cars. At 10.00 Sharon Chapman decided to ring the police. She told Nicola Wells: 'You know they don't do this. It is too long.'
Police joined the search, going around to visit schoolfriends of the girls. One was Natalie Parr, woken at 2am by the police knocking on her door. She told them of dens and gardens where they played. But the fear that something terrible had happened was immediate. 'I thought somebody had taken them,' Natalie said. At 1.00am telecom engineers tracked the signal from Jessica's Nokia mobile to a swath of countryside north of Soham. The signal was fading. Perhaps the batteries were running out. Half an hour later, the phone was dead.
THE MANHUNT BEGINS
Dawn broke over a village in turmoil. Delivery driver Geoff Griggs was just leaving for work when he heard a news bulletin on the local radio at 6.30am. By that evening he would be joining in the manhunt. 'We knew something terrible had happened,' he said.
Sunday night had been cold and wet. With the girls wearing just their shirts and trousers, police realised some sort of all-night 'prank' was unlikely. By noon hundreds of volunteers were marching through the fields. By 1.45 personnel from the US Air Force base at Mildenhall had joined in. Cambridgeshire police launched a major investigation. A computer threw up a random name: Operation Fincham was declared active. That afternoon the Cambridgeshire computer system for major cases, Holmes 2, was booted up. A bloodhound was sent from Wales.
Police usually wait several days before holding a press conference with the parents of a suspected abduction. But with Holly and Jessica that was scrapped. By 3.30 they had made a tearful appeal to their daughters to come home. A day later soccer star David Beckham also spoke out. The theory was that the first 48 hours is the most fruitful time for turning up clues. It was perhaps the best chance of still finding Holly and Jessica quickly and alive. It did not work, but did ensure the media circus would arrive. Hotels were soon full and television satellite vans lined main roads. With equal speed, children disappeared from Soham's streets, kept indoors by fearful parents. The press pack found a town traumatised by its fear.
The slightly down-at-heel town of 8,700 is an inward-looking rural place. The local paper's lead story last week was a row over a wedding reception. 'This is the sort of place where I've always told my daughter to run to the nearest house if there's any problem. Now what do I tell her?' said Terry Skelton, whose daughter, Samantha, 12, knew both girls. 'We watch the television news and sometimes we cry. I don't want to go out. Nobody is going out,' she said.
Soham has a Co-Op and a handful of pubs. Its police station closed 11 years ago. It was not equipped to be at the centre of a national news story. Neither were many of the police. From the beginning, they were hampered by false trails that led to nothing. Such things are par for the course in any investigation, but in Soham each tip was mercilessly scrutinised by the press. Police were slammed for reacting too slowly, or criticised for running up a blind alley.
The first false report was a woman who claimed she had seen the girls on the A10 near Great Thetford. It caused momentary relief, but the report was false. Police issued a plea to local youngsters not to wear Manchester United shirts. It was feared that the parents of both children could not take any more false hope.
But other wrong leads came thick and fast. Taxi driver Ian Webster reported seeing a man driving a green Peugeot or Vectra with two children inside. The man swerved as he 'thrashed out' out at them. The report, which caused a sensation when Webster complained of police slowness, created an avalanche of investigative work. There are 103 green Vectras and 71 similar Peugeots in Cambridgeshire alone. Throughout Britain, the numbers are 8,992 Peugeot and 2,500 Vectras. Each one had to be traced.
But Webster's car clock was an hour ahead. When he saw the car, Holly and Jessica were still roaming the streets of Soham. A white van 'cruising' the streets was also eliminated, along with dozens of other pieces of information. After feverish speculation that the girls had been 'groomed' by an internet paedophile, the police announced that their last session on the internet was innocent. They had not visited chatrooms or sent emails. It exemplified the uneasy relations between police and press. Managing the media was an enormous part of the operation. Kim Perks, a police spokeswoman who dealt with the disappearance of schoolgirl Danielle Jones, was drafted in from Essex. She came up with the strategy of 'a story a day' to keep the media happy.
But rumour still crackled like wildfire. One was that a sex offenders' hostel had been secretly opened nearby. Another said Terence Pocock, sentenced to life imprisonment in 1985 for the rape and stabbing of two 13-year-old girls nearby, had been released back into the area. Neither was true. Things got worse when the Sun and the Express offered huge rewards. Slammed by some as a cheap publicity stunt, more than £1.25 million was now on offer to catch the abductor. The police were walking a tightrope. They needed to keep the media spotlight focused: it was their best hope of turning up a lead. But the media could work in reverse: it was their biggest enemy in throwing up false trails.
With the girls still missing after four days and 2,500 calls from the public, the inquiry kept getting bigger. More than 250 police were now searching the Fens and an RAF Tornado with heat-seeking equipment scoured the land from the skies. Two detectives who helped to catch Roy Whiting, the paedophile who abducted and murdered Sarah Payne two years ago, joined the inquiry. Detective Inspector Chuck Burton arrived with the 'Catchem' computer system, designed to build offender profiles.
Attention focused on local sex offenders. Cambridgeshire had 266 registered and 433 others known to be resident. Five profilers drew up a picture of a suspect. The hunt focused on a local man, probably with previous sex offences, aged between about 25 and 40. It was not unusual. Without a crime scene the profilers worked on probable scenarios. Most offender profiles fitted their conclusions. This formed the basis of the next police strategy: a direct appeal to the abductor through the media.
It was the idea of investigation head Detective Superintendent David Beck, a Cambridge languages graduate who specialised in hostage negotiation. For several days he appealed to the abductor. Carefully chosen pictures of Jessica were released, aiming to humanise her in the mind of their captor. 'Don't let these photographs become some of the last pictures that the family have to remember Jessica by,' Beck said.
THE LONGEST NIGHT
Henry Cecil walking in the yard of his house near Newmarket at 5.00pm last Tuesday when he heard the helicopter's roar. The world-famous horse trainer looked up to see a police chopper hovering above the woods. Here was the news everyone dreaded. 'Graves' had been found.
A jogger had discovered two mounds of disturbed earth. By 4.25 he returned to the woods with a police officer. Within 30 minutes the area was cordoned off. By nightfall, tents had been erected over the mounds. Arc lights lit up the trees. The police conducted a fingertip search. They were preparing to dig. The whole nation tuned in to watch the early evening news.
In the Red Lion, the bar fell silent. 'Someone turned off the music and everybody just watched the TV,' said assistant manager Aaron Dickerson. Then the pub shut, as did the two others on Soham High Street. People huddled in two and threes, waiting on street corners, at the church, leaning over garden gates. The snatches of conversation gave it all away: 'graves', 'digging' and 'bodies'.
For the families it was horrific. At 5.00pm, family liaison officer Detective Sergeant Chris Mead arrived unexpectedly at the Wells' house. 'They knew from the look on my face what I was about to tell them was not good news,' he said. He began talking to Kevin and Nicola. At one stage 12-year-old Oliver walked in. He too was told about the mounds. Mead prepared them all for the worst. Similar scenes were played out at the Chapman's home. Both families retreated behind closed doors. In the Wells house, radios and televisions were switched off. Cups of tea were drunk, but no meals were eaten. Tears were shed. A video was put on, but no one could watch it. No one slept.
At 2.30am the first tentative digging began. But within 90 minutes the truth was clear. It was a badger sett. By 6.30 the second mound was discovered to be another sett. The relief was brief. It was back to the terror of not knowing. Holly's grandmother summed it up. 'It was one of the longest nights of my life. Last night they were dead but this morning we have a little hope,' said Agnes Wells, 61.
By Wednesday morning it was clear that 10,000 phone calls, 400 door-to-door interviews and 700 cars stopped had produced nothing. In a nation brought up watching detective shows, expectation was enormous. But real investigations take time. Respected figures in Soham urged calm. 'We're living a reality. This is not a detective story, there's no Inspector Morse to make everything all right,' said the Reverend Alan Ashton.
But for the police it was time for change. Scotland Yard sent in its Murder Review Team. Within 24 hours it would overhaul the investigation. Yet before that could happen, Beck - who had successfully negotiated a hijacking at Stansted airport - had one last trick up his sleeve. He gave the abductors a deadline. In a live statement, he told the abductor he had left a message on Jessica's phone. A hotline would be set up to take the abductor's call. He - or she - had until midnight on Thursday to ring.
It did not work. As the church bells tolled in Soham, there was silence in the secret location where the phone line had been set up. No one called. By that time Beck had been sidelined in his own investigation. The Yard team brought in outsiders to take control. Detective Superintendent Chris Stevenson and Detective Superintendent David Beggs, were now in charge.
'LOOK AROUND. CAN YOU VOUCH FOR YOUR NEIGHBOURS?'
Thursday night was close and thundery. Hundreds of villagers headed for a meeting with the police. It seemed as if the whole place was on the move and looking for answers. They straggled inside in twos and threes. Many confessed to feeling guilty. 'We feel it's our fault somehow,' said Heather Brasher. 'We keep thinking: there must be something else we could have done. '
That night the police provided an answer. It was a terrible prospect. Sealed off from the media waiting outside, the people of Soham were told again that the clue to the missing girls lay within their community. Somewhere among them was the answer that the whole country was looking for. It was up to them to find it. 'Is there someone around you, friends or neighbours, who are doing anything differently?' said Detective Inspector Simon Causer.
For a community already starting to crack under the pressure of media and police attention, it was an astonishing appeal. But the people inside the hot and sweaty hall took up the challenge. When one policeman explained that his officers could not search every house in Soham, one resident cried out, 'Why not?'. There were shouts of agreement. 'We'll open up our houses to everyone,' said another.
Maurice Audley, a former commando, strode forward. He faced the audience. 'Yes, there is something we can do,' he thundered. 'Think, again, about the neighbour on the left hand side and the neighbour on the right. What do you really know about them? What about that odd chap you've found strange for years and wondered what they were up to? Can you vouch for him?' The appeal was met with prolonged applause. Causer muttered quietly: 'I would agree with everything that has just been said.'
A day later came the critical break through. It is not yet known what new information came to light, but early on Friday afternoon two cars of plainclothes policemen pulled up outside the house of Huntley and Carr. The pair were ushered away. The event went unnoticed by journalists who were milling around nearby.
Then word came of a press conference. It was announced that the two had volunteered to give witness statements and been taken to separate police stations. As the media pack emerged stunned from the hastily read statement, officers were already cordoning off the house and Soham Village College with police tape.
At 4am yesterday Huntley was arrested on suspicion of murder and abducting the girls. Carr was arrested on suspicion of murder. It was the first time in the entire investigation that the police had officially voiced a belief that Holly and Jessica were dead. Yesterday afternoon came the final blow. Two bodies had been discovered by a member of the public near Mildenhall, the nearby village best known for its airforce base.
After two weeks of an extraordinary and agonising manhunt, Holly and Jessica, the best friends who had spent their last day playing together on the streets of Soham, were never going to come home."
I found some of that very dramatic, more like a novel than a newsreport (like the story "gripping" Britain - it's not a bloody film!) but it does throw up some things. Like all the lies and false rumours, blaming some bloke who doesn't even live there.
I'm still puzzled by the time line at the house. Did Holly's Mum shout up at 8.30 or was it earlier? According to one report it was later that she noticed they weren't there and according to this report (if I've understood it correctly)she noticed they weren't there and then didn't go to look for them or start worrying until 8.30.
We at least know they were seen at 7.20 having sneaked out for whatever reason. It would seem they were grabbed after that, quite possibly by the caretaker who had spoke to them earlier. I say "possibly" because I try not to say anything until their has been a conviction.
What an appalling, almost indescribable thing.
This may not be a sex offence either yet already people are talking about sex crime. There is talk (again from the Observer) that volunteers may be hired (policing on the cheap IMHO) to watch people who are on the Sex Offenders Register and report them if they do anything which breaks the conditions of their release. I'm not sure about that. I think it might be ok as long as people who haven't been directly affected by such crimes aren't the volunteers. It's common sense really.
The sad thing is, most sex crime goes on in the family eg parents, siblings, uncles/aunts, grandparents and doesn't get reported. It's the rarer crimes which get the most coverage.
I won't be on-line for a bit, unless I can get to use a computer at work, which is highly unlikely. They are cracking down on internet use. I might start a thread about it.
Not that I'm wishing to end this with a light-hearted comment but it was just in case anyone was going to address me directly and then wondered why I haven't replied.
xxx