Carr due in court in connection with murder
Former teaching assistant Maxine Carr is due in court today charged in connection with the murder of 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.
Carr, 25, who had worked with the girls in their Cambridgeshire school, was remanded in custody yesterday after being charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice. She was due to appear before Peterborough magistrates this morning.
Her boyfriend, 28-year-old school caretaker Ian Huntley, was yesterday charged with the murder of the two girls. He is not due in court today as he is undergoing psychiatric assessment at a secure hospital.
Huntley was detained under the 1983 Mental Health Act in the early hours of yesterday morning after undergoing a series of medical examinations since his arrest on Saturday.
His case will be listed in court "when he is deemed fit to attend", a Cambridgeshire Police spokeswoman said.
He was transferred at 2am yesterday from his police cell to Rampton hospital in Nottinghamshire on the advice of a psychiatrist concerned at his fitness to be interviewed over the murder of the girls.
Detective Chief Inspector Andy Hebb said: "Upon a psychiatrist’s recommendation, Ian Huntley was detained under the Mental Health Act 1983. He was transferred from police custody to a secure unit where he will undergo further assessment."
He added that the decision to charge Huntley followed "lengthy discussions" with the Crown Prosecution Service.
He was charged at about 5pm yesterday by two Cambridgeshire detectives who drove to Rampton.
Psychiatrists have up to 28 days to assess him but can apply for further extensions of up to six months or more, raising the theoretical possibility that he could never stand trial. But a police source said this scenario was unlikely.
Cambridgeshire Police said that only once that assessment has taken place will the medical team decide whether the patient is fit to stand trial or enter a plea.
It is possible that a patient is deemed to need mental health care but could stand trial for murder, the spokesman said.
A spokesman for Rampton hospital said its patient would remain "for an undetermined stay".
He added: "Rampton hospital, part of Nottingham Healthcare NHS Trust, has today, August 20, 2002, admitted a 28-year-old man for assessment after concerns were expressed regarding his fitness to be interviewed by Cambridgeshire Police.
"Due to patient confidentiality issues, Rampton Hospital will not disclose any further information about this patient or his treatment whilst at the hospital."
The girls’ parents were informed in advance of the decision to charge Huntley.
They are still waiting to hear how their daughters died after a postmortem examination proved inconclusive.
The bodies of the best friends were found by walkers at a Suffolk beauty spot on Saturday, almost two weeks after they vanished from Soham wearing identical Manchester United football shirts.
Meanwhile floral tributes continue to pour into the girls’ home town, where they were transforming St Andrews Church yard into a sea of bouquets.
More than 14,000 messages of condolence had been received from all over the world within 24 hours of a special website, Soham Tragedy, being set up.
Celia Minnett, in charge of the council-run website, said the volume of messages was constant throughout the day and night as different countries around the world logged on.
Messages have arrived from New Zealand, Canada, South America, the Far East, across Europe and countries from the former Soviet Union.
Children and parents struggling to cope with the emotional anguish have been receiving counselling from Cambridgeshire social workers using special helplines.
Police are still searching the site where the bodies were found, along with the home of Huntley and Carr, and the primary and secondary schools where he worked.
Teams were also scouring the home of Huntley’s parents, Kevin and Lynda, in the village of Littleport.
