Huntley deemed fit to stand trial for murder
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Ian Huntley was ordered by a judge yesterday to stand trial for the murders of schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman after a psychiatrist found he is not suffering from any "major or significant'' mental illness.
The school caretaker, who spent the last two months undergoing assessment at a high security hospital, was being held in the Category A Woodhill Prison near Milton Keynes last night.
Judge Nicholas Coleman, sitting at Peterborough Crown Court, made his decision after hearing Mr Huntley, 28, had undergone rigorous tests of his memory and everyday behaviour at Rampton Hospital in Nottinghamshire.
Dr Christopher Clark, a consultant forensic psychiatrist, completed a report two days ago that found there was nothing about Mr Huntley's mental health that could prevent him answering the charge that he killed the two ten-year-olds in Soham, Cambridgeshire, after they disappeared on 4 August.
The greying caretaker could now stand trial alongside his girlfriend, Maxine Carr, 25, early in the new year.
Summarising the psychiatrist's findings, Karim Khalil, prosecuting, said: "He concluded that at this point in time he [Huntley] is fit to enter a plea and stand trial.
"Mr Huntley is not suffering from any form of major mental illness, in particular a psychotic illness ... there is no evidence he is suffering from a significant mood disorder.''
The medical judgment, arrived after 56 days of close examination in Rampton's closed wards. Huntley, flanked in the dock by a Group 4 security officer and a psychiatric nurse, spent the 18-minute hearing staring blankly ahead as he constantly rocked himself backwards and forwards.
The court heard the case of the caretaker, who is also accused of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, would be joined to that of Carr, who also faces a charge of perverting the course of justice.