Jessica Chapman and Holly Well – the Soham Tragedy

Jessica Chapman and Holly Well – The Soham tragedy

On 4 August 2002, Holly Well and Jessica Chapman both aged 10-years-old, went missing from their home in Soham, Cambridgeshire. Less than two weeks later, their bodies were found in a ditch at Lakenheath, Suffolk.

Ian Huntley, a school caretaker in the village, and his classroom assistant fiancé, Maxine Carr, were later arrested. Ian Huntley was charged with the two school girls’ murder while Maxine Carr was charged with conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

In December 2003, Ian Huntley was found guilty of Holly and Jessica’s murders and given two life sentences. A High Court judge has since ruled that Huntley will spend at least 40 years in jail.   Carr was cleared of assisting an offender but found guilty of conspiracy and given a three-and-a-half-year term.