Soham Murders: British police were expected early today to seek one further and final extension to allow them detain a couple being questioned about the abduction and murder of 10-year-old schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. From Eithne Donnellan, in Huntingdon
The suspects, Mr Ian Huntley (28) and Ms Maxine Carr (25), were arrested on Saturday and had been in custody for 72 hours at 4 a.m. today, at which point police were expected to apply to magistrates to extend their period of detention for a further 24 hours.
They can be held for a maximum of 96 hours after which they must be released or charged. The 96 hours will have expired around 4 a.m. tomorrow.
The 10-year-old schoolgirls vanished from Soham in Cambridgeshire while out for a walk on Sunday August 4th.
Bodies, which police said were almost certainly those of the children, were found in woodland in Suffolk, about 15 miles from Soham, around lunchtime on Saturday.
Cambridgeshire police confirmed last evening that post-mortem examinations on the bodies, which had been removed to a Cambridge hospital for forensic tests, proved inconclusive. The examinations were conducted by Home Office pathologist Dr Nat Cary.
"Further tests will now be carried out. It is anticipated that these may take some weeks," a spokeswoman at Cambridgeshire police headquarters in Huntington said.
She added that it could still be some days before police were able to positively identify the bodies. However, in a statement released on Sunday night the officer leading the inquiry, Acting Deputy Chief Constable Keith Hoddy said police were as certain as they possibly could be that the bodies were those of Holly and Jessica.
Since their arrest, Mr Huntley and Ms Carr have been undergoing questioning at separate police stations in Cambridgeshire.
Mr Huntley worked as caretaker at Soham Village College, the local secondary school, while Ms Carr worked as an assistant teacher at St Andrews primary school in Soham, the school attended by Holly and Jessica.
Mr Huntley has admitted he was among the last to see the girls alive and said, when they passed his house on the evening of their disappearance, they were "as happy as Larry".
He said they asked after Ms Carr, who had worked in their classrooms, and he told them she wasn't very good as she hadn't got a full-time job she applied for at the school. Ms Carr also appeared on television after the girls vanished, showing off a card Holly had given her at the end of term. The card was signed "C Ya, Miss Ya, Luv Holly".
Mr Huntley and Ms Carr only moved to the quiet village of Soham, which has a population of less than 10,000, over the past year.
Both had changed their names, Mr Huntley from Mr Nixon and Ms Carr from Ms Capp but the changes were said to be for family reasons after their respective parents split up.
Cambridgeshire County Council said it had checked references and had police check on both of them before they took up their jobs at the local schools.
Further details of their backgrounds emerged yesterday when the Daily Mirror published an interview with Ms Carr's mother, Ms Shirley Capp.
She said her daughter had been anorexic as a teenager and fell in love with Mr Huntley three years ago.
"Maxine is in love with the man. Nothing will break them. She adores the ground Ian walks on, and she is no killer," she was reported to have said.
"Maxine is standing by Ian. She is standing by him for reasons even I do not know. But it is now up to her to tell the police everything she knows. I cannot vouch for him," she added.
It has also emerged that Mr Huntley was previously married to a woman who has since married his brother Wayne.
He worked in a number of factories before applying for the job as caretaker at Soham Village College - where a large house went with the job.
That house, along with the village schools and the area where the bodies of the girls were found in Lakenheath were still being examined by police last night.