A former police officer has revealed how Soham killer Huntley gave himself away as a by trying to hide in plain sight – but his sinister behaviour only raised more and more red flags.
Double child killer Ian Huntley revealed his true colours in a series of interviews and cryptic comments following the disappearance of two young schoolgirls from his Cambridgeshire town.
Huntley, 52, was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 40 years for the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, both 10, in Soham in August 2002.
The local school caretaker, lured the two youngsters into his home before killing them and dumping their bodies in a ditch some 12 miles away.
Their disappearance from a family barbeque after they had left to buy sweets shook the local area and made Huntley one of the most prolific child killers in British history.
Holly and Jess were not found for almost two weeks after they vanished, during which time Huntley made a series of suspicious admissions which alerted police.
It comes as Huntley fights for his life in hospital after being attacked by a fellow inmate with an iron bar in a prison workshop today.
Speaking in a documentary, Sharon Gilbert, a former Special Constable with Cambridgeshire Police, explained she was in her patrol car when she was approached by a ‘very relaxed’ Huntley.
Huntley, 52, is serving life for murdering 10-year-olds Holly and Jessica in his home in Soham, a Cambridgeshire market town made infamous by his vile crimes in 2002
Holly Wells (left) and Jessica Chapman (right) were both murdered by Huntley in Soham, Cambridgeshire in 2002
He nonchalantly leant on the side of her vehicle and asked her: ‘How long does DNA evidence last?’
Gilbert was one of the 400 police officers who swarmed the small Cambridgeshire town in the days following the disappearance of the schoolgirls.
Speaking in Channel 5’s Soham: The Murder of Holly & Jessica, She told how the atmosphere was ‘very solemn’, adding: ‘Every window in town had a picture of the girls in the Manchester United tops – with the press rewards.
‘On Wednesday afternoon we were tasked to go to Soham College, and Ian Huntley approached the vehicle and lounged over the hinge section of the door.
‘He was very relaxed in his talking, he wasn’t nervous in any way, shape or form.’
Describing his demeanour as he asked about DNA retention, she said: ‘Everything about him made me feel uneasy.’
Huntley and his then-bride-to-be Maxine Carr – who worked at the girls’ school – gave multiple interviews to journalists, who descended on the small town as the days with no sign of the best friends drew on.
Chillingly, he told Press Association reporter Brian Farmer that Holly would likely go quietly but Jessica would ‘put up a real fight and a real struggle’.
Farmer raised his concerns to the police after feeling something was off with Huntley’s responses.
‘The police issued a timeline of sightings, and they said Ian Huntley had seen the girls – although they didn’t say he was the last person to see the girls,’ he explained.
‘I went to the house and I explained I just wanted to chat and get a few details, and they were quite reluctant.
‘I remember asking Maxine whether at school they’d done stranger danger and if they’d be told to not get into car and she said they had.
‘I asked her from your knowledge of Holly and Jessica how would they react if someone said “get in the car”.
‘Before she had the chance to answer, Ian answered and said “Holly would probably get in and be quiet but Jessica would fight and be mad”.’
‘That’s when I thought something wasn’t right, so I started to ask him more about the girls.’
As one reporter said later: ‘He [Huntley] knew how they’d react because that’s how they reacted when he killed them.’
Holly Wells (right) and Jessica Chapman (left), both 10, were killed by Huntley in 2002 in a double murder which horrified the nation
Huntley (left) was convicted of the murders after pleading not guilty. His girlfriend at the time Maxine Carr (right) gave him a false alibi but turned on him in the witness box
The Daily Mail’s own reporter Sam Greenhill was also struck by the couple’s strange behaviour.
Now Chief Reporter, he described asking Huntley and Carr if he and a fellow journalist could borrow their TV in order to watch a video appeal that had just been put out by police.
‘I had no idea I was about to enter the crime scene of one of the most sickening child murders this century,’ Greenhill said this week.
He described how investigating officer Detective Superintendent David Beck’s plan relied on Jessica’s missing blue Nokia 5110 mobile phone.
He hoped that, if he could trick the kidnapper into switching on the phone, police would be able to use its signal to locate the girls.
The officer recorded a direct appeal to the abductor, and wanted journalists to watch the tape in advance of the six o’clock news.
Greenhill and a second journalist named Harriet were able to persuade Huntley to allow them to watch the appeal on his video player.
I had no idea I was having tea with a monster
I’m Sam Greenhill, Chief Reporter, and nearly 25 years ago I had an encounter with killer Ian Huntley that still sends shivers down my spine.
Huntley is one Britain’s most notorious child murderers. But when I was invited into his home for tea and biscuits days before he was arrested for the Soham Murders, this was the last thing on my mind. I’ve written about it in The Crime Desk newsletter – sign up to read it for free.
Greenhill said: ‘Huntley paused, looking unsure. Obviously, with hindsight, we were asking the 10-year-old girls’ killer himself if he wanted to watch a police appeal to the abductor.
‘Still shamefully plotting to somehow get away with his evil, Huntley must have been desperately scheming about what to say to us, as we hovered on his doorstep.’
He added: ‘Huntley’s face was barely more than two feet away from the detective’s on the screen. But if his plea meant anything to Huntley, he did not show it.
‘The paedophile caretaker already knew what poor Holly and Jessica’s parents did not – their children were lying in a shallow grave and what pitiful hopes they still clung to would soon be extinguished.’
Greenhill told how the caretaker, through some morbid sense of satisfaction perhaps, insisted they watch the tape three times through – despite the journalists preparing to leave after the second rendition.
‘Huntley rewound the videotape to the start. We all sat watching it again, silent apart from when Huntley shook his head and murmured: “It beggars belief.”
‘This audacious pair were the very people Mr Beck’s appeal was directed at, but you would never have guessed. Not a flicker of emotion passed across either of their faces. They just looked, like most people in Soham, exhausted and concerned.
‘At the end, we thanked the couple, took the video and apologised for bothering them as we raced out of the door.
‘”It’s no trouble,” trilled Huntley. “Anything to help get those two little girls back”.’
Both journalists and locals raised concerns about Huntley’s behaviour, and he was ultimately arrested and charged with both murders.
His partner, who had given him a false alibi, turned on him in court. She was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison and was released in 2004 with a new identity.
Huntley, who lied in court and claimed both girls died by accident, was sentenced to live in prison with a minimum term of 40 years.
The double killer was transported to hospital after being targeted in a behind-bars ambush on his prison wing this morning which saw him hit with the metal weapon.
Huntley was found in a pool of blood after the incident at HMP Frankland, County Durham at around 9am.
A source said the double killer’s condition was ‘touch and go’ and described the scene on the wing as ‘absolute chaos’.
The attacker is thought to have gained access to Huntley in a prison workshop. The killer is usually under close guard at all times.
A spokesperson for Durham Constabulary said: ‘Police were alerted to an assault which had taken place within HMP Frankland in Durham this morning.
‘A male prisoner suffered serious injuries during the incident and was transported to hospital.
‘A police investigation is now underway into the circumstances of the incident and detectives are liaising with staff at the prison’.
A Prison Service spokesperson said: ‘A prisoner is receiving treatment after an incident at HMP Frankland on Thursday morning.
‘It would be inappropriate to comment further while police investigate.’
