BRITAIN: Schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman probably died after being smothered by Mr Ian Huntley, a jury at the Old Bailey was told yesterday.
The court also heard that the bodies of the two 10-year-olds were so badly decomposed when they were found in a soggy ditch last August that pathologists could not rule out the possibility that they had been sexually assaulted.
The jury in the trial of Mr Huntley (29), who is facing double child murder charges, heard that he returned to the remote spot where he had dumped the girls' bodies and set them on fire to destroy forensic evidence.
Mr Huntley has pleaded not guilty to murdering the girls on August 4th last year, the day they went missing, but guilty to conspiring to pervert the course of justice.
He did not appear in court yesterday because, his barrister Mr Stephen Coward QC, said he was feeling unwell.
His former live-in girlfriend, Ms Maxine Carr (26), sat alone in the dock with prison officials. She has pleaded not guilty to conspiring with Mr Huntley to pervert the course of justice, and to aiding an offender. The atmosphere in the historic Old Bailey was sombre and subdued as the court was shown photographs and graphic reconstructions of scenes connected with the discovery of the girls' bodies 13 days after they disappeared from Holly Wells's home.
The parents of each of the girls were present in the courtroom as Mr Richard Latham QC, who is leading the prosecution, detailed the likely method of their death, and the gruesome state of the bodies when they were found.
He has already told the court that Mr Huntley would not dispute that the girls died in his home, that he was the only person present at the time, and that he disposed of their bodies. The girls' bodies were found in an irrigation ditch in woodland at Lakenheath, Suffolk, about 40 minutes' drive from their home village of Soham by three walkers, Mr Latham said.
He described the ditch, which was surrounded by thick briars, as being in an isolated area that Mr Huntley was familiar with because his father and grandmother had lived close by.
"Ian Huntley knew this area really well. Whoever it was who dumped the bodies would not have set off down that track in the dark unless they knew where they were going and what they would find," Mr Latham said. "Whoever dumped the bodies knew it would be a suitable place to put them and that they would be unlikely to be caught in the act."
He said Mr Huntley had probably taken the bodies to the ditch shortly after they had disappeared, otherwise rigor mortis would have set in and they would have been difficult to manoeuvre.
He lay them side by side in the ditch, and the discovery of a swatch of fabric from one of the girl's clothing suggested that he then cut their clothes from their bodies.
The clothing was found separately and also showed signs that it had been torched. Mr Latham said Mr Huntley had spent a lot of time badgering police and journalists in the days immediately after the girls went missing, fishing for clues that he then acted upon to cover his tracks.
It was Mr Huntley's concern about DNA, and its potential as evidence, that led him to return to the ditch three days later and set the bodies alight.
Scorching of the foliage around the ditch pointed to the intensity of the fire, suggesting he had first thrown petrol over the bodies, Mr Latham said.
He said the bodies were in such an advanced state of decomposition that had they not been found when they were, they might have disappeared altogether. Pathologists had to employ DNA and dental science to identify them as Holly and Jessica, he said, adding that the method of death was arrived at by ruling out "stabbing, shooting or other significant trauma".
"A positive cause of death was impossible to determine because of the state of the bodies, there had been so much decomposition. But it leaves asphyxia as the most likely cause," he said.
The possibility that they had been sexually assaulted could not be ruled out, he added.
Mr Latham said fibres from the girls' clothing had been found in Mr Huntley's house and car, and chalk from the ditch had been found on his car and shoes.
Turning his attention to Ms Carr, Mr Latham said that she had told police "persistent, devious and detailed lies" to protect Mr Huntley because she believed him to be innocent.
He said Mr Huntley had told Ms Carr that he had been falsely accused of a crime before they met and had suffered a nervous breakdown as a result.
Police had found a "crib card" that Mr Huntley had written for Ms Carr detailing events and times so that they could co-ordinate their stories for police.
The trial continues