Legal representatives of Mr Ian Huntley have conceded that there is evidence the British school caretaker is guilty of the manslaughter of 10-year-olds Holly Wells and of Jessica Chapman
Mr Stephen Coward QC, counsel for Mr Huntley told the Old Bailey during summing up in the trial today: "We conclude on the evidence available, thin as it is, that there is evidence that Mr Huntley is guilty of the manslaughter both of Holly Wells and of Jessica Chapman."
Earlier the trial was told by the Prosecution that the girls "had to die" after Mr Huntley's sexual motive for taking them into his home went "plainly wrong".
The former Soham caretaker was ruthless, merciless and operating for his own "selfish interest" when he killed the youngsters, prosecutor Mr Richard Latham QC said.
Summing up his case, the barrister urged the jury to reject Mr Huntley's defence that the girls died by accident.
He said: "We suggest the whole business in the house was motivated by something sexual. "Whatever he initiated with one or other or both girls plainly went wrong and thereafter, in this ruthless man's mind, those girls had to die.
"They had to die in his own selfish self-interest. Each were potential witnesses - he was quite merciless." The claims came as the prosecution concluded its closing statement to the jury on the 25th day of the double murder trial.
Mr Latham also claimed Mr Huntley's then girlfriend Maxine Carr had "worked it out" that something had happened to the girls but lied for Mr Huntley because of the prospect of marriage and a "new start".
Ms Carr said she was in the house in Soham on the day the girls disappeared when she was in Grimsby. She has denied she suspected Mr Huntley was responsible for the girls' deaths and he had told her they had left their house.
Mr Latham said she must have realised the significance of changes such as a massive clean-up of the house and car and what Mr Huntley had told her.
Mr Latham said: "It was awful to contemplate. She may have refused to confront what she had worked out and, no doubt, she would desperately have liked it never to have happened, but that doesn't stop her being in a position of knowing or believing that it has."
Mr Latham said Mr Huntley had "nerves of steel" to carry out a series of media interviews knowing the girls were dead. He said the defendant also conducted "a series of ruthless acts" by dumping the bodies of the girls in a remote ditch and cutting off their clothes to remove potential evidence that would link him.
Mr Latham said: "Is this the mind of a man who has closed down and can't think rationally, and hasn't got a proper memory of what has occurred? "We suggest it is the complete opposite - it is a man under control and he is thinking, thinking very hard indeed."
Mr Huntley denies the murder of Holly and Jessica but admits he was responsible for Jessica's death in his house on August 4th last year after Holly died accidentally in the bath. He also admits he dumped their bodies, cut off their clothing and set fire to them.
Mr Latham said Mr Huntley was "manipulative" and thinking carefully as he spoke to the press, neighbours and police in the days after the girls disappeared.
"This is, as I keep emphasising, a thinker, a planner, a man who is acting calmly and rationally," the QC said.
PA