Huntley 'unlikely to deny girls died at his home'

British school caretaker Mr Ian Huntley is unlikely to deny that schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman died soon after …

British school caretaker Mr Ian Huntley is unlikely to deny that schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman died soon after entering his house, a jury heard today.

He also took their bodies to the place where they were found, prosecutor Mr Richard Latham QC told the Old Bailey in London.

The barrister made the revelation on the first day of evidence in Mr Huntley's trial.

Huntley denies murdering the ten-year-olds, who disappeared in their home village of Soham in Cambridgeshire on the evening of Sunday, August 4th, 2002.

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But Mr Latham told the jury: "We understand from those representing Huntley it is unlikely to be disputed by Huntley that the girls went into his home shortly after 6.30 p.m. that evening, that Huntley was the only other person there at the time and that they died within a short time of going inside his home."

Mr Latham said a mobile phone expert had identified that Jessica's phone's final message, which was sent to a mast in Burwell, could only have been sent from a handful of sites around Soham because of network coverage in the area.

The lawyer described it as "a quirk" that these few sites were covered by that mast instead of the one in Soham itself.

And he said one of those sites was in the Soham Village College area, in front of Huntley's cottage.

He said the prosecution's suggestion was that the last signal was sent from there. He said: "We suggest it would have been in the immediate area of 5 College Close.

"We suggest that, when you listen to the evidence, you will think that was highly significant."

Mr Latham asked the jury to consider two questions about Mr Huntley. He said: "One - is this a man who is thinking sensibly, a man who is in control of himself?

"Two - is this a man who is capable of telling convincing lies?

"I would hope that because you are going to have to judge it, you are going to have to decide what he did. You may have to decide whether or not anything he may choose to say which is in any way in his own self-interest is capable of belief."

He said he then wanted to turn to Mr Huntley's behaviour following the disappearance of Holly and Jessica.

He said: "Remember, whatever happened to Holly and Jessica happened when he was with them early on that Sunday evening.

"Remember, that he had the presence of mind to remove the bodies from Soham and to hide them where he hoped they would not be found.

"By this time, as we know, the search was on, being recorded. Already many local people were helping.

"Many went on helping right through the night."

Mr Latham said soon afterwards a small group of men had met Mr Huntley on a footpath.

"They asked Huntley if he had seen the two girls and he said he hadn't."

One of the men said Mr Huntley had asked who the girls were and he told Mr Huntley their names but he said he had not seen them.

Mr Latham said: "He still has to work out a strategy."

Mr Huntley was walking his dog, which was not on a lead, at the time, Mr Latham said.

PA