IAN Huntley is a convicted killer who was found guilty of murdering two 10-year-old school girls in 2002.
The depraved murderer’s horrifying crime and his subsequent arrest will be re-examined in Channel 5’s 5 Mistakes That Caught a Killer.
2
2
The murderer’s early life
Huntley was born on January 31, 1974, in Grimsby, Lincolnshire.
He grew up in a working-class family and eventually got a job as a caretaker at Soham Village College in Cambridgeshire.
Around this time, he met Maxine Carr who was born in the same village as him.
Carr was described as a shy woman who had met Huntley in a nightclub.
They began a relationship that very night and, soon, she started working at the same college as Huntley.
Huntley’s depraved crime
On August 4, 2002, Huntley lured two 10-year-old girls named Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman into his home.
He then murdered both girls before hiding their bodies.
Huntley even appeared on TV where he expressed his worry about the two girls’ whereabouts.
Unbeknownst to viewers, Huntley was responsible for the horrific crime.
Shortly after his TV appearance, the girls’ bodies were found at an RAF base on August 17, 2002.
When Holly and Jessica’s bodies were found, Huntley was arrested.
In court, Carr turned on Huntley and contradicted the lie that she had previously told the police.
She had claimed that Huntley had been with her at the time of the murders when she was actually at a nightclub with another man.
This allowed Huntley to be sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment.
A high court later set a minimum term of 40 years in jail.
Carr was handed three-and-a-half years in prison for perverting the course of justice.
After her release, she was granted a lifelong anonymity order which was intended to protect her from being attacked for her role in covering up Huntley’s crime.
Huntley’s life behind bars
It was revealed that Huntley had a daughter with a then-15-year-old named Katie Bryan, whom he had groomed.
His daughter, Samantha, was horrified to discover her father’s identity through researching her family background for a school project.
The killer is serving his sentence at HMP Falkland Prison, where he reportedly grew close to Charles Taylor, the ex-president of Liberia.
Huntley confessed to his crime in 2018, in a leaked recording given to The Sun.
He said: “What I will say is that I am so terribly, terribly sorry for what I have done.
“I know the people of Soham took me into their community, they trusted me, gave me a job and a home, and I betrayed them in the worst possible way.
“And I am sorry for what I have done, sorry for the pain I have caused to the families and friends of Holly and Jessica, for the pain I have caused my family and friends, and for the pain I have caused the community of Soham.”
5 Mistakes That Caught a Killer
The Channel 5 documentary series 5 Mistakes That Caught a Killer will examine the errors made by murderers that led to their arrest.
The first episode of the series kicks off on November 13, 2024, and will focus on how Huntley was caught.
Huntley was already under suspicion when Jessica and Holly’s bodies were found because he asked a suspicious question.
The killer asked the police how long DNA evidence lasted while he was being questioned himself.
Also, Holly and Jessica’s clothes were found on the grounds of Soham Village College where he worked.
Huntley’s house, car, and place of work all had lots of physical evidence that tied him to the crime.
