Mr Ian Huntley told his Old Bailey murder trial today that he did not dial 999 after Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman died in his Soham house because the chain of events was too unbelievable. Giving evidence, Mr Hunley admitted that he was responsible for the deaths of the girls.
The college caretaker described how the 10-year-olds died in his bathroom, telling the court he "panicked and froze" and did not think the police would believe his account.
He revealed for the first time that he appeared to have suffered some kind of memory black-out, saying his first memory after the deaths was of him sitting huddled, feet away from their bodies, with his own vomit on the carpet next to him.
Asked to tell the jury how he felt about the events of August 4th last year, he said: "I wish I could turn back the clock, I wish I could do things differently, I just wish none of this had never happened.
"I'm sorry for what's happened, I'm ashamed of what I did. I accept I'm responsible for the deaths of Holly and Jessica but there's nothing I can do about it now. I sincerely wish there was."
Mr Huntley had paused and sniffed through much of his evidence, but it was the first time he had appeared to cry during several hours in the witness box giving evidence on the first day of his defence.
Mr Huntley (29) was giving evidence during the first day of his defence case after the prosecution finished its evidence against him. "I was thinking of calling the police but I , I, I didn't believe what had happened," he said. "I kept thinking 'How do I explain this to the police?'.
"If you can't believe what has happened yourself, how are you going to expect the police to believe it either?"
Instead, he bundled their bodies into the boot of his red Ford Fiesta. He repeatedly insisted that he had no plan at that stage but just knew he needed to get them out of his house.
The jury has heard that Mr Huntley admits dumping the bodies in a remote ditch near Lakenheath, Suffolk, where they were found 13 days later, and to setting fire to them with petrol.
Mr Huntley, who denies the double murder, said the girls had walked to his house, 5 College Close in Soham, Cambridgeshire, on Sunday, August 4th, last year.
Holly had started having a nosebleed and he told them to sit on the open boot of his Ford Fiesta car while he brought her tissues, the court heard. When the bleeding did not stop, he asked them inside, first into the living room and then - when the bleeding still had not stopped - up to his bathroom.
Holly sat on the edge of his bath, which had six to eight inches of water in it from a bath he had run for his dog, he said. He passed her tissues soaked in cold water from the sink but said he lost his footing as he passed her another.
He said he did not know why he had slipped, or if he had touched Holly, but she fell backwards into the water. Huntley said the next thing he heard was a splash followed by Jessica screaming, "You pushed her, you pushed her".
He said: "When Holly fell into the bath, I was stood there waiting for some movement or for her to get up . . . there was no movement, I just panicked and froze." He added: "I couldn't think. Stood here, it's logical just to pull somebody out of the bath, especially when they are not moving. I could not think."
Mr Huntley said "panic and screaming" had stopped him thinking clearly, and that his basic first aid training from a former job had not occurred to him. Mr Huntley said he could not recall how long he stood before acting but said his next memory was of putting a hand over Jessica's mouth to silence her screams, and might have put another hand out to "restrain" her.
He added: "At some point it hit me what I should be doing . . . to get Holly out of the bath." Mr Huntley let go of Jessica and said: "She fell to the floor."
"To be honest, it didn't really register that much. My main priority now was to get Holly out of the bath," he said. Mr Huntley described how he pulled Holly out of the bath and laid her on the floor before checking her wrist and neck for a pulse, but found none.
Mr Stephen Coward, his QC, asked: "What about Jessica?" Mr Huntley replied: "Up till that point I hadn't really been aware of Jessica. I had not registered she was lying there . . . I became aware of Jessica and I went over to Jessica."
He had no idea how long he was huddled there and admitted he made no attempt to resuscitate the girls. Mr Huntley said: "Holly had gone a strange colour. With Jessica, I had felt for signs - there were none. . . . To be honest, I did not know what to do."
Mr Coward asked: "If these identical events were to be repeated again, what do you think you would do now?" Mr Huntley said: "Stood here - I would have pulled Holly out of the bath straight away."
He agreed he had "a clear idea" what had caused Holly to die but said he had no idea why Jessica had collapsed and died. The defendant said he had decided against calling the police, a decision which he now regretted.
The accused said he picked up Jessica's lifeless body and carried her down to the hallway before doing the same with Holly. It was still light outside on the summer evening when he put them in the boot of his car, after checking no one was outside.
Mr Huntley denies murdering the two best friends but has admitted conspiring to pervert the course of justice. Ms Carr (26) denies conspiring to pervert the course of justice and two counts of assisting an offender.
PA