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17/11/03 - Soham Trial Transcript
Monday, 17 November 2003
SKY News
Richard Latham is the chief prosecutor; his colleague
on the prosecution team is Karim Khalil QC.
Stephen Coward QC is Ian Huntley's defence barrrister.Mr
Justice Moses is the judge.
Other witnesses and lawyers are introduced as they appear.
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MR LATHAM
my Lord, if the Jury goes to - they may well be there
already - page 8 of the chronology; we move to 7 o'clock
in the evening of the Monday. my Lord, they say there,
listed the names of a large number of people.
I am not going to read the entirety of those statements
out. what I propose to do is to read the first statement,
which is the first named individual there, Holland, which
sets the scene and then simply reads - as soon as the
Jury have heard the first statement they will see the
topic, and then I will simply deal with that part of each
of the subsequent statements, which deals with the topic
itself.
so Gary Paul Holland says this "I currently live
in Lode Close, Soham , and have done so for the past ten
years, together with my wife Andrea Holland and two sons,
Daryl aged 14 and Calvin aged 13. We live about 300 yards
away from Soham Village College, which is a secondary
school which both my sons attend. I am sorry, 1218, my
Lord.
JUSTICE MOSES
I have it, thank you very much.
MR LATHAM
"On Monday, 5th August,
I was at work when I heard on the radio that two young
girls had gone missing from Soham. I called home and spoke
to my wife who informed me that our two sons were out
helping in the search. I completed my day's work and arrived
home at 5 p.m. that day. I was aware that the two girls
were still missing and I saw television news programmes
about the disappearances.
I discovered that the two girls that had gone missing
were called Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. We had our
tea about 6.30 that evening and I was aware there was
going to be a meeting at 7 o'clock at Soham Village College.
My two boys had already left and were going to help with
the search. I decided that my wife and I should also assist
and so just after 6.50 we left our house together, with
our dog, which is a black labrador.
We walked out of Lode Close and turned right into College
Road and this led us to the main entrance to the school
grounds." Pausing there, Members of the Jury, "as
we went up College Road over the bridge and then up towards
the library..." you recollect there was a close on
the left-hand side, Lode Close. The driveway then seeps
round to the left and the caretaker's house is positioned
on the right hand side.
"This is one of
the main routes into the school and I was aware of many
people walking in the same direction as us. As we started
to walk past the caretaker's house situated to our right,
I had hold of the dog lead in my right hand. As we walked
past the house, I became aware of another dog barking
and approaching our dog. This dog was off the lead and
came right up to us. I obviously stopped and looked round
at this dog which was medium in size, as well as different
colours of brown and white and seemed like an unkempt
mongrel dog, because as I was looking back I could see
a man bending over looking into the boot area of a car.
The car was parked on driveway to the caretakers house
facing towards the house. It was a red small-ish type
hatch back vehicle and the boot was fully open. The man
bending over looking into the boot immediately stood up
and walked over to where my wife and I were standing.
We were about ten yards away from the vehicle and the
lighting conditions were good. This man walked over and
grabbed this dogs collar, telling it to get indoors, he
said to me "Sorry, mate", and we both turned
around and continued walking." He subsequently discovered
that the man was called Ian Huntley.
MR COWARD
Can I ask that my learned friend reads the remaining statements
that he tells the members of the jury the date of the
statement.
MR LATHAM
this one is dated 6th September "when I think back
to that evening I cannot be certain exactly what Ian Huntley
was doing in the boot of his car. He had both hands in
the boot area and when he walked towards me to gain control
of his dog he was not wearing anything on his hands. I
was not aware of anything being inside the boot of the
car and I cannot say what colour the interior of the car
was".
She says that was the first time had ever seen Ian Huntley.
the statement of his wife, dated the previous day, in
fact the 5th September, Andrea Holland, she is dealing
with the same incident. my Lord, I go straight to 12.21
and the bottom of the page "he came over and took
the dog by its collar and led it to the house. I think
the front door was open. we then continued on our way
without looking back.
I remember that the boot of the car was wide open with
the hatch lifted fully up. the boot appeared completely
empty. There was a dark coloured carpet inside, I think
it was either dark grey or black, it seemed to fit neatly
as if it was professionally fitted. there were no obvious
signs of it having been put by an amateur, none of the
metal underneath the carpet was on view. I have a definite
impression that he was cleaning the boot area of this
car.
I have a feeling there may have been a vacuum cleaner
with him, and that he may have put something down to come
and get his dog. I am uncertain of why I think he was
cleaning the car. I am sure that no-one else has suggested
it to me and I have not heard it suggested in any media
report. this feeling has been with me for some time because
when I reported this to the police on 19th August I mentioned
to them that I thought Huntley had been cleaning the car".
Then a man called Troy Dudley, statement of third September,
it was about ten to or five to seven that evening as we
passed by the caretaker's house. I don't remember why,
but at some point I looked across towards the caretaker's
house , I could see there was a bright red Ford Fiesta
parked on the front lawn of the house.
I believe it was facing away from the house. I had seen
this car parked outside the house a number of times before
and it looked about ten years old, and I think it may
have been age registered. All the doors to the car were
wide open and I think the rear hatch was up as well. I
recall seeing what can only describe as car mats draped
over either or around the----"
Page 1228, my Lord, Phillippa Claire Wrenforth, her statement
of (inaudible) September, she described going off on the
search and walking into the area of the Lodeside School.
I immediately saw a bright red Fiesta. She kept the car
parked on the property of the house facing towards the
building. I don't remember if it was parked on a driveway
or on the grass. She says all four doors were shut as
was the boot.
I don't recall seeing the windows down, the car was clean
and looked in fairly good condition, other than I remember
thinking the area around the back lights and the back
window looked a bit untidy. I could see a white man stood
near to the driver's door area of the car." down,
the second ring binder, my Lord "His overall appearance
was that of wearing old clothes to do jobs around the
house.
I could see he did not stand straight. it was a sort of
slight stoop with head and shoulders dropped forward slightly.
as I said earlier, his body was angled more towards the
house and I could see he had some sort of rag in his right
hand; this was the hand closest to us. I got the impression
that he was cleaning the car, almost (inaudible) like
in colour and appearance.
Nearest the driver side of the car was what I thought
was an upright style Hoover, almost Dyson-like in shape,
the only colouring I remember is that it was dark. It
had some sort of pipe up the side but I can't recall if
it was the hose or actually part of the Hoover itself.
I don't remember seeing if it was plugged in or not and
although front door of the house was not far from the
front of the car, I don't remember seeing if the door
was open or not." she got the impression that he
was cleaning his car.
the next witness, page 34, my Lord, Lucy Greenley, she
was with the previous witness. as we walked past the house,
the bottom of the first page, my Lord "as we walked
past the house situated within the college grounds we
could see a man cleaning out a red car which was parked
outside the front of the house.
It would have been between 7.10 and 7.15. I can only describe
the car as a small red car, either a Fiesta or Micra,
the car was clean and looked shiny. I don't know the registration
number of it, it looked fairly new. The car was facing
towards the house with the boot facing towards us. I can't
recall if any of the car doors were open but the boot
was. I can't recall seeing anything in the boot; there
may have been a carpet in the boot but I cannot remember.
There was a Hoover on the path between the front and rear
passenger doors of the car, a grey coloured cylindrical-type
Hoover which was not switched on although it appeared
to be plugged in because the lead ran along the path through
the front door of the house. The man cleaning the car
was standing on the passenger side of the car, facing
this side of it. He was not actually cleaning as we walked
past but he was holding either a cleaning rag or a shammy
leather. He was actually looking over to his right watching
people as they were walking past. He didn't acknowledge
us at all.
Transcript edited by Sky News
Samantha Clifton, the same sort of time as previous witnesses",
and over the page "the car was parked so the front
of it was facing the house and the boot facing towards
us. The car was red, I believe a Fiesta. I did not see
the registration number of the car but I don't think it
was new, although it looked in fairly good condition.
I think the, driver's door was open and I could see a
man standing next to it. I think he had been cleaning
the top of the roof,he was holding a cloth of some kind
although I cannot describe it.
This man was actually facing towards the road where we
were walking. I think there was a bucket by the side of
the van but I don't recall seeing a house pipe or another
any other cleaning implements. She walked past at a distance
of about 15 yards. She said she walked past the man cleaning
his car about 6.55 p.m., so she sighted it before the
previous the next witness,
Diane May brown, 18th August (page 1240, my Lord) she
describes walking up College Close and over the page,
1241, at about 7.40. "I was walking in the middle
of the road; when I was about half-way along College Close
I saw a red Ford Fiesta parked facing me on the area in
front of the corner house. The Fiesta was cherry red and
because of its shape it looked old, about ten years old,
I did not look at the registration plate as the boot of
his car was fully open and there was a white male stooped
down into the boot.
I couldn't see the male's hands but my first thought was
he was cleaning the inside of the boot. This was because
of the way the male was leaning forward and focusing on
what his hands were doing." Then she says "As
I continued to walk up College Close the male was still
stooped in his boot. When I was about 20 to 25 yards from
the Fiesta, the male looked left and glanced towards us,
he never stood up. He moved his head towards the near
side of the car and then returned to what he was doing.
A short piece Elizabeth Chesham, "I remember the
car was a red Ford Fiesta, parked on the concrete path,
central to the house, the vehicle was facing the house.
I would say it was about 7.45 when I first saw it."
The middle of the page, "This person had a bright
coloured vacuum cleaner next to them on their right side
between them and the inside of the open driver's door.
I cannot recall the colour of this cleaner, I cannot say
if the vacuum cleaner was working as we passed, I can't
remember hearing anything.
Then Neil Cooper, his statement, 24th August. He gives
the time in the portion I want to read. "I recall
passing - page 1253, my Lord, bottom paragraph - I recall
passing what I now know to be the caretaker's house. I
saw a man who was stood near to a car on the driveway
of this house. He appeared to be cleaning the car thoroughly
as all the doors and the boot were open. I personally,
I'm not this thorough when I clean my car. I believe the
time would have been about 7.45 as we had been at the
college some 25 minutes before leaving to commence the
search."
Then over the page near the first ring binder "I
was no more than meters from the man who, when I first
saw him, was stood cleaning the car with a hoover. I remember
the doors being open as well as the boot. He was using
the hoover, cleaning the inside of the car. I cannot recall
which part of the car he was cleaning at this point. There
were other things upon the drive, a bucket and other stuff,
I'm not sure what else."
He recalled the car was red, believed to be "a small
hatch back, quite old, around J or K registration as my
own car is of a similar age. Not sure of the make but
similar to a Metro, Fiesta car, it was facing towards
the house. He walked away towards the house from the back
of the car, that's the person who was doing the cleaning.
The car being to his left as he approached the house when
I was almost level with him and the car.
I just recall hearing the hoover while he was searching
near the brook. This is what drew my attention to him."
Again about the hoover, over the page "As for the
hoover I cannot recall the colour or whether it was an
upright type, I just recall the noise and seeing it in
the man's hand.
Nathan Fletcher, he puts the time at 7.45 to 7.50 in the
evening. Page 1258, he is describing the red car engine
facing towards the front of the house; this car had its
four doors and boot open. "the boot was up so I couldn't
see the index, it was a small car. The raised boot containing
the rear window, the interior of the car was possibly
grey , I cannot remember any of the contents of the car.
I wasn't really looking. I don't think there was anything.
I would say I casually noticed the car at first from from
a distance of 50 to 100 meters. The annoying thing for
me was there was a male hoovering the car, the closer
I got the more angry I became. This male turned to this
house once or twice in the time he was in my sight. Whenever
I saw him by the car he was hoovering. His hoovering was
concentrated on the rear passenger seat, behind the driver
seat, basically the right hand side.
As I drew level with the red car I could see in and across
because the far side rear door was open, the Hoover was
on the ground, outside the right hand side of the vehicle;
there was a lead stretching from the front door of the
house to the Hoover. The male stood outside the car cleaning
into the car with the black hose of the Hoover. I could
hear the noise of Hoover."
My Lord, I don't think I need read any more parts of the
other statements. I am asked to read the statement of
Susan Sarah Hague, 12th September "On Monday morning,
5th August, a family member contacted me to tell me about
the two missing girls, from Soham village. The family
went straight out to help and searched in the area of
Wicken and beyond. We returned home some time later for
a rest and were told, if we wished to continue, we should
return at 7 pm to Soham College.
We made our way from home to Soham College, arriving about
7 pm; we used our blue Austin Mondeo, parking in the college
car park. After about an hour we were put into groups
of 20 people and leaders were given areas to search. We
left the college building that led out of the car park,
walking in the direction of College Road. The group spread
out quite quickly, walking down the car park.
On our left side was a large patch of grass which I recall
as green, facing us just to the left was a single house
then at 90 degrees, several more houses leading into College
Road. As I approached the front of the first house I was
about 40 feet away, there was a car parked right in front
of the house. The car was parked with the front facing
us and the back (inaudible) the rear lid of the car was
up and the man was standing close to the corner of the
vehicle I was able to see him clearly.
My attention was drawn to him because I was thinking there
is nearly all of Soham going for these two little girls
and here is a fit young man cleaning the back of his car
out. I don't know what make the car was, I'm not very
interested in cars, I don't even remember the colour of
the car. What I can say I saw is that he was banging what
looked like to me a boot type car carpet as the material
was stiff and the shape similar to a boot carpet.
I couldn't tell what he was hitting the carpet with as
it was shielded by the carpet, as I am walking past it
has probably taken five to ten seconds and the closest
I had been to him being 25 feet." She describes the
man and carried on along College Road over The Bridge.
It was then announced the search area was on the northern
end of town. My Lord, unless there is anything else I'm
asked to read, that covers that topic, I call Steven Fitchett,
please, my Lord's page 73. In fact it states over the
page.
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