Although Cambridgeshire police have not absolutely confirmed the identities of the two bodies found on Friday in woodland near Lakenheath in Suffolk, they say they are "as certain" as they "possibly can be, at this stage," that they are the missing 10 year old children, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.
As the past 14 days and nights went by, many experienced professionals increasingly feared that the prospects of finding the girls alive were remote. But the spark of hope remained. There are no words which can express the agony and the grief of those for whom that hope is now extinguished and whose children have been taken from them. The hearts of every parent - every individual - must go out to the Wells and the Chapman families.
Sympathy and understanding must also go to the community which has had this evil visited upon it. Soham is a small town, comparable in size and composition to many Irish towns. There will be few among its population who will be untroubled by what has happened. There will be self-doubts, questioning, the pain of wondering whether these dreadful crimes might have been averted. There will be much work for those in the healing professions and for those who endeavour to bring spiritual comfort.
There is the immediate task for the police. Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr are in custody, he on suspicion of abduction and murder, she on suspicion of murder. The investigation and prosecution process will no doubt advance from here in coming days.
But while the wheels of the law grind forward, other questions will present themselves from this terrible event. What combination of factors can generate such evil deeds? What societal or environmental influences are at work? Is there, in reality, a spread of malignancy through the internet or otherwise? Has social control, both temporal and spiritual, been so diluted that evil impulses, restrained in earlier generations, are now more likely to be let loose?
Or is there, implanted in the human species, an ineradicable strain of malevolence which will break out from time to time where it finds the opportunity? And if so, how is to be addressed or contained? Such terrible events will cause some to seek support and comfort, turning to a loving and merciful God. Others will ask, where was mercy for the Wells and Chapman families and for the people of Soham in these terrible August days?