BRITAIN: The judge presiding over the Old Bailey trial of a man accused of murdering two 10-year-old girls swore in 12 jurors yesterday. He warned they must leave their emotions outside the courtroom and consider their verdict based only on the evidence presented.
The jury of seven women and five men will hear the case against Mr Ian Huntley (29), who is charged with murdering Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in August last year. He has denied the charge but pleaded guilty to conspiring to pervert the course of justice.
His former fiancée, Ms Maxine Carr (26), who worked at the school which the girls attended, is facing two counts of conspiring to pervert the course of justice and one of aiding an offender. She has denied all charges.
The case against the two is due to be outlined this morning.
"The death of anyone, and perhaps especially children, gives rise to understandable concern and emotion. But this courtroom is not the place for any expressions of emotion," Mr Justice Moses told the jury.
He conceded it would be "idle to pretend" that the jurors had no knowledge of the disappearance and subsequent murder of the girls, which sparked one of the biggest police searches in British history and widespread empathy with their families. But he called on them to consider the evidence, without regard for their feelings.
"It means that you try this case on the evidence you hear and see in this court, uninfluenced, unprejudiced by anything you may have heard, read or seen elsewhere, or anything that you may hear, read or see in the future."
The two accused people have been held in custody since their arrest on August 17th, 2002. Hours later, the girls' bodies were found in a ditch near their home in the Cambridgeshire village of Soham, 13 days after they had disappeared during a family barbecue. The jurors have been told to expect their duty to last at least until the end of January.