Police have confirmed that the two families will spend tomorrow away from Soham, the Cambridgeshire town from which the 10-year-olds were abducted a year ago.
Holly and Jessica vanished on August 4, shortly after being seen walking near their homes. The girls’ bodies were discovered almost two weeks later in a secluded woodland spot near Lakenheath, Suffolk, following one of the largest police searches the country has seen.
Intimating their desire to be left alone, the families asked Cambridgeshire police to issue a statement on their behalf this weekend. “They wish to thank people for their kind thoughts and hope people appreciate their desire for privacy at this time,” it said.
Police and local clergy are urging well-wishers to stay away from the town over the next fortnight following the massive outpouring of public grief that swamped Soham last summer. Thousands of people from all over Britain descended on the town to lay floral tributes and sign books of condolence.
Although no special events have been planned to commemorate the anniversary of the incident, prayers remembering the two schoolgirls and calling for “peace and justice” will be read out in Soham’s churches this morning.
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Holly and Jessica’s parents are now focused on the forthcoming trial of Ian Huntley, 29, the Soham school caretaker charged with murdering the girls. Huntley’s girlfriend, Maxine Carr, 26, who worked as an assistant in Holly and Jessica’s class, is accused of helping an offender and perverting the course of justice.
The couple are due to stand trial at the Old Bailey in October.
Tim Alban Jones, the vicar of St Andrew’s Church in Soham, has maintained close contact with the Wells and Chapman families from the beginning of their ordeal.
In an article issued by police he writes: “On the surface, it has been a case of business as usual, but an outsider would not have to probe too deeply to discover that the scars of last August run deep.”