Future Books - Flowers in Gods Garden - Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman - Documents - 13/11/03 - Soham Trial Transcript Thursday, 13 November 2003

Flowers in Gods Garden - Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman - Documents

13/11/03 - Soham Trial Transcript Thursday, 13 November 2003
SKY News

MR LATHAM is the chief prosecutor and MR JUSTICE MOSES is the judge.
Other witnesses and lawyers are introduced.

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MR LATHAM
Mr Abbott your full name, please?

MARK ABBOTT
Mark Andrew Abbott.

MR LATHAM
Mr Abbott, I think for something over two years, perhaps three years now, you have worked at the sports centre in Soham , is that correct?

MARK ABBOTT
Correct, yes.

MR LATHAM
Are you still there?

MARK ABBOTT
Yes, I am.

MR LATHAM
Did you in August of last year before their disappearance know either or both Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman?

MARK ABBOTT
Yes, I did.

MR LATHAM
Would you have been able to put a name to each of them on say 1st August or would you simply have recognised them as living Soham?

MARK ABBOTT
I would have been able to put a name to them.

MR LATHAM
On Sunday 1st August you worked at the sports centre until five o'clock in the evening then went home, did you?

MARK ABBOTT
Yes, that's correct.

MR LATHAM
Did you know, the sister of Jessica Chapman, Rebecca Chapman?

MARK ABBOTT
Yes, I do.

MR LATHAM
Did you get a telephone call from her in the middle of the evening on that Sunday?

MARK ABBOTT
Yes, I did.

MR LATHAM
And until that call were you aware that the two girls had gone missing?

MARK ABBOTT
It was that call I found out.

MR LATHAM
Thank you. At the time you got that call on your mobile phone, you were at a friend's home, weren't you?

MARK ABBOTT
Yes, that's correct.

MR LATHAM
Did you get home just after ten o'clock?

MARK ABBOTT
Yes, I did.

MR LATHAM
Did you at that stage get in touch with Rebecca to see whether any progress had been made?

MARK ABBOTT
Yes, I did.

MR LATHAM
And find that it hadn't?

MARK ABBOTT
No, that's correct.

MR LATHAM
Did you offer to assist?

MARK ABBOTT
I did offer, yes.

MR LATHAM
Was that offer taken up?

MARK ABBOTT
It was up to me whether I wanted to and yes.

MR LATHAM
Where did you go upon leaving home in your car?

MARK ABBOTT
I went to the sports centre where I worked.

MR LATHAM
Describe if you will what happened, what sort of time did you get there?

MARK ABBOTT
It was around 10.30.

MR LATHAM
Yes. Do you know Mary Norman as she then was,

MARY WATKINS
as she now is?

MARK ABBOTT
Yes, yes I do, she is my work colleague.

MR LATHAM
Was she there that evening?

MARK ABBOTT
She was.

MR LATHAM
What was she doing at the time you got to the sports centre?

MARK ABBOTT
They were just looking at the sports centre.

MR LATHAM
And where did, you say they, do you remember who you saw first of all as you got to the sports centre?

MARK ABBOTT
I can't remember who I saw first, no, but I know who was there.

MR LATHAM
who was there?

MARK ABBOTT
WAYNE SHORT and Mary's fiance at the job, Johnny Watkins.

MR LATHAM
and Mary?

MARK ABBOTT
and Mary of course, yes.

MR LATHAM
what if anything - were they together when you first spoke, explained what you were doing at the sports centre or----?

MARK ABBOTT
I can't honestly remember (inaudible) at that time.

MR LATHAM
what information, if any, did you give to them or any of them when you first got there?

MARK ABBOTT
I asked if they had seen the two girls.

MR LATHAM
apart from saying, "Have you seen two girls?", did you give them any other information at all about the girls?

MARK ABBOTT
that they were wearing red tops.

MR LATHAM
you knew the names of the girls?

MARK ABBOTT
yes.

MR LATHAM
did you mention that at all at that stage?

MARK ABBOTT
I can't honestly remember.

MR LATHAM
had any of them at the sports centre seen two little girls in red tops?

MARK ABBOTT
no, they hadn't.

MR LATHAM
the conversation, that initial conversation with however many of them it was that you first bumped into, was it inside or outside the sports centre?

MARK ABBOTT
it was just inside the front doors of the sports centre.

MR LATHAM
right. what was it decided that you as a group should do?

MARK ABBOTT
we should go and look.

MR LATHAM
and look. now, you had a car there, you had just driven down there, hadn't you?

MARK ABBOTT
yes, that's correct.

MR LATHAM
did any of them have a car?

MARK ABBOTT
I believe Mary and Johnny had their car.

MR LATHAM
what did you decide you would do or were you going to start searching?

MARK ABBOTT
Johnny came, decided to come with me in my car and Wayne would go with Mary in their car.

MR LATHAM
what about WAYNE SHORT, you have mentioned WAYNE SHORT?

MARK ABBOTT
Wayne, he (inaudible) was at the sports centre also at time, he was just there having a social drink.

MR LATHAM
right. Before you got into your car to start the search did anything else happen?

MARK ABBOTT
I heard someone walking down the footpath at St Andrew's school.

MR LATHAM
where were you at that point?

MARK ABBOTT
about to get my car at the sports centre car park.

MR LATHAM
who, if anyone, was with you at that stage?

MARK ABBOTT
I believe Johnny walked round to the path, heard someone (inaudible) I believe at the time Mary and Wayne were still in the car park.

MR LATHAM
the person who had made the noise which had attracted your attention - did you recognise them?

MARK ABBOTT
yes.

MR LATHAM
who was it?

MARK ABBOTT
Ian Huntley, the site manager.

MR LATHAM
did you know he was the site manager?

MARK ABBOTT
yes.

MR LATHAM
you worked at the sports centre, you told us, for a couple of years?

MARK ABBOTT
yes, that's correct.

MR LATHAM
what, if anything, was said? ?

MARK ABBOTT
I asked had he seen two girls.

MR LATHAM
Had he seen two girls?

MARK ABBOTT
Yes, wearing red tops.

MR LATHAM
Wearing red tops. What was the response?

MARK ABBOTT
No, he hadn't.

MR LATHAM
You have said you think you were with Johnny?

MARK ABBOTT
That's correct.

MR LATHAM
That's Watkins ?

MARK ABBOTT
Yes, Jonathan Watkins.

MR LATHAM
How far away from you was he when you had this short conversation?

MARK ABBOTT
Johnny.

MR LATHAM
Yes?

MARK ABBOTT
Johnny was next to me.

MR LATHAM
Do you know if he said anything at this time?

MARK ABBOTT
I can't honestly remember at the time, he might have said something but I don't recall anything.

MR LATHAM
What in total did Ian Huntley say to you during this meeting?

MARK ABBOTT
He said no he hadn't seen the two girls and then asked who they were and I replied who they were, they were Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, then he asked how I knew them and I told him how I knew them.

MR LATHAM
Better take that in stages, you gave him the two names?

MARK ABBOTT
Yes I did.

MR LATHAM
He mentioned how you knew them?

MARK ABBOTT
How I knew the two girls.

MR LATHAM
What did you say?

MARK ABBOTT
I said I knew Jessica through her older sister Rebecca and I knew Holly through her father Kevin who is my cricket captain.

MR LATHAM
Right. You play village cricket with Kevin Wells?

MARK ABBOTT
I try to, yes.

MR LATHAM
Any further response from Ian Huntley to that in information?

MARK ABBOTT
No, he was just his normal self, what I had seen of him on a day-to-day - well working in the sport centre.

MR LATHAM
Did he have anything with him on that evening?

MARK ABBOTT
He had his dog.

MR LATHAM
On or off a lead?

MARK ABBOTT
Off a lead.

MR LATHAM
Did you see a lead in his possession on that evening?

MARK ABBOTT
I can't honestly remember.

MR LATHAM
What you have just told us is really a matter of a few sentences, isn't it passing between you?

MARK ABBOTT
Yes.

MR LATHAM
Is that pretty much it, or was there in reality more said or----?

MARK ABBOTT
I can't honestly remember.

MR LATHAM
Then did you get into your car?

MARK ABBOTT
I said to him before I left if he saw anything to call the police.

MR LATHAM
Anything else at all you remember Ian Huntley saying, he was there with the dog?

MARK ABBOTT
I can't, (inaudible) I can't remember anything else myself.

MR LATHAM
Can you wait there, please, Mr Abbott.

MR LATHAM
Mr Abbott no doubt

WAYNE SHORT
was in your group that night as well as you to search?

MARK ABBOTT
Over the course of months and I remember what I said in my last statement, that's my word today.

MR COWARD
Thank you, Mr Abbott.

MR LATHAM
Just mention how it was you came to make the final statement, the one in October, dealing with the question of naming the girls to Mr Huntley. Who initiated that statement? How did you come to make that statement? Did the police come to you or did you go to the police?

MARK ABBOTT
I can't honestly remember.

MR LATHAM
Thank you very much, Mr Abbott.

MR JUSTICE MOSES
Thank you very much

(witness withdrew).

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