Soham trial adjourned after juror falls ill

The trial of the school caretaker accused of murdering Soham schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman has been adjourned after…

The trial of the school caretaker accused of murdering Soham schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman has been adjourned after a member of the jury reported sick.

Prosecutor Mr Richard Latham QC was set to present his closing speech in the trial of Mr Ian Huntley, but that has been postponed until at least Tuesday. Mr Justice Moses apologised to the jury but said it would not be right to continue

The case had been expected to end towards the end of this week but may be delayed if the juror remains ill.

Mr Huntley (29) denies murdering the girls but has admitted conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

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His ex-girlfriend, 26-year-old former teaching assistant Ms Maxine Carr, is on trial with him on charges of assisting an offender and conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

Mr Huntley, who gave evidence in court last week, has admitted that Holly died in the bathtub at his house and that he killed Jessica when he covered her mouth with his hand to stop her screaming. But he says both deaths were accidents.

He has also admitted loading the girls' bodies into the boot of his car and driving them to a secluded spot about 15 miles from Soham where he rolled them down a steep bank, cut their clothes off and burned the bodies.

Ms Carr, who also gave evidence in person last week, described how she and Huntley concocted a false story about the evening the 10-year-olds died in August 2002.

But in an emotional outburst on her second day of evidence, Ms Carr rounded on her former lover Huntley, accusing him of killing the girls and then forcing her to lie to protect him.