|
 |
 | | | | | | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| | | You are in: UK | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| | Two arrested in girls murder inquiry  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
His girlfriend Maxine Carr, 25, has been arrested on suspicion of their murders, police revealed on Saturday.
Holly and Jessica vanished from near their homes in Soham, Cambridgeshire, on Sunday 4 August.
The arrests mark the first confirmation that police fear the girls may be dead although their bodies have not been found.
Detective Chief Inspector Andy Hebb said that officers had also recovered items of "major interest" from Soham Village College, where Mr Huntley worked.
 | ||
 | : | Holly and Jessica |
| ||
| ||
Maps showing focus of the investigation | ||
| ||
| ||
He said the items had been preserved at the scene and would be subject to forensic examinations which take a "considerable time".
The couple were arrested at around 0400 BST and taken to separate police stations in Cambridgeshire where they are being interviewed.
Mr Huntley had previously told police that he had spoken to the girls on the evening they went missing.
Search continues
Police can now hold the pair for up to 72 hours without charge and can apply to magistrates for an extension of a further 24 hours.
Holly and Jessica's parents have been informed about the developments.
Searches are continuing around Soham including the site which includes the college, the girls' primary school St Andrews and Mr Huntley's caretaker's cottage.
It was at the college only hours before that the missing girls' parents had publicly appealed to any abductors holding their daughters to give them back.
Mr Huntley, a site manager at the college for the past nine months, and Ms Carr, a former teaching assistant in the girls' class, had given voluntary witness statements.
The pair had both agreed for their home, which is in the grounds of the college, to be searched on Friday.
The house was one of the last places where the 10-year-olds were seen on the day they went missing.
On Saturday the home and grounds of Mr Huntley's father Kevin, in Littleport which is about 10 miles from Soham, were also cordoned off to allow police to carry out a search.
Major manhunt
The girls' headteacher broke down in tears as he told how he felt numb when he heard about the latest developments.
Geoff Fisher said: "I have been clinging for the last two weeks to the hope that Jessica and Holly would be found alive, clinging to the hope that they would be starting school in September in their final year at St Andrew's".
Soham Methodist minister Alan Ashton said the town was in deep shock.
He said the community stood on "the edge of grief" but the parents had been plunged into "an abyss of darkness".
"It is the absolute awful scenario and the emptiness in their homes will be so intense at this moment."
Soham vicar Tim Alban Jones said: "It is almost impossible to make sense of this.
Jessica and Holly's disappearances sparked one of Britain's biggest manhunts, involving more than 400 officers from 21 forces. More than 14,000 calls have been made to police since the case opened 13 days ago.
Police have always insisted that the key to solving the inquiry was likely to lie in or around Soham.
| ||
 | ||
 | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
|
| |
|  E-mail this story to a friend |
| |
|
| | |
 | ||
 | | |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To BBC Sport>>|To BBC Weather>>|To BBC World Service>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © MMIIINews SourcesPrivacy |
%7eRS%7ea%7eRS%7eInternational%7eRS%7eq%7eRS%7e%7eRS%7ez%7eRS%7e29%7eRS%7e&f=jpg&w=240)
