Jessica was screaming as Holly lay in the bath, Huntley says
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Exactly how and where Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman met their deaths has been a mystery since their disappearance 15 months ago. Yesterday, counsel for Ian Huntley revealed his version of what happened on 4 August 2002, the last day they were seen alive.
The school caretaker, who the jury has heard repeatedly told police officers, journalists and neighbours how the "chatty" 10-year-old girls had stopped to talk to him outside his house before wandering off into the distance, admitted that both girls had died in his bathroom at his home.
On day 16 of the Old Bailey trial, Mr Huntley's QC, Stephen Coward, described his client's account of the girls' final moments. When he said "my client's case of what actually happened in August last year", the packed courtroom fell into silence. Holly's parents, Kevin and Nicola Wells, leant forward and listened intently as Mr Coward spoke. Jessica's mother, Sharon, was also in court, although her husband, Leslie, chose not to attend.
Mr Coward said: "At the material times, Holly Wells had a nose-bleed. Because it would not stop, she and Jessica, and the defendant, Mr Huntley, went up to the bathroom at No 5 College Close."
With the girls sitting on the edge of the bath, Holly closest to the wash basin, Mr Huntley cooled pieces of tissue paper under the tap. Mr Coward said: "At one of his turns from getting the wet tissues to give to Holly, he slipped and it seems may well have banged into her and she went backwards. He has no recollection of banging but he does remember a splash."
Holly fell back into a bath, which he had earlier filled with 18 inches of water to wash his dog, the court was told.
Mr Coward said: "Jessica stood up and started screaming 'you pushed her, you pushed her'. He then turned towards Jessica and either with one hand or two, he is not sure, put his hands out towards Jessica, his memory is over her mouth, to stop her screaming. For how long he was in that position, he can't say but he then became conscious that Jessica was no longer supporting herself on her feet. He let go and she went to the ground. He then turned round to the bath and Holly was lying in the bath, apparently dead.
"He lifted Holly out of the bath, put her on the floor, looked for signs of breathing and found none. He turned his attentions to Jessica, looked for signs of breathing and found none."
While the 29-year-old denies the double murder, the jury of seven women and five men heard earlier in the day that he admitted the friends died in his house when he was the only other person present and that he disposed of their bodies. This, however, was the first time such detail had been made public.
The revelation came as Mr Coward was cross-examining the Home Office pathologist Nathaniel Carey. Having lain in the damp ditch near Lakenheath air base, Suffolk, for 13 days, the girls were so decomposed that cause of death was not ascertainable.
But Dr Carey explained a lack of fractures or dents to the bones led him to believe they had not been stabbed or suffered a blunt trauma. There was no evidence of drugs and neither did he believe that the "fit, healthy" children could have died of natural causes.
"Although it is not possible to give any precise cause of death, the death must have involved the actions of one or more third parties," he said. "In simple terms, 10-year-old girls don't die suddenly together."
His best assessment, he explained, was that their breathing was stopped - either by suffocation or strangulation. In an indication of what was to follow, Mr Coward asked him whether drowning could have been a cause. The pathologist agreed that it was a scenario he could not exclude, but he would need to be given possible circumstances. The barrister then asked Dr Carey to consider his client's case. Having been caught "on the hoof" without warning, the pathologist asked for time to discuss the matter with other forensic scientists.
The prosecution claim the former caretaker murdered the girls, hid them in a ditch and proceeded to cover his tracks with the help of his partner, Maxine Carr, 26, who had lied to offer him an alibi when she was more than 100 miles away in Grimsby
She denies two counts of assisting an offender and one of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
The jury was told Keith Prior, a gamekeeper, with friends Adrian Lawrence and Helen Sawyer, went to investigate a smell down the deserted lane on 17 August 2003. "I heard Adrian say, 'Don't come any further Helen, go back to the van'," Mr Prior explained in a statement. He joined his friend at the side of the ditch where the burnt and decomposed girls lay side by side.
The trial continues.
HUNTLEY'S ADMISSIONS
ONE Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells went into 5 College Close shortly after 6pm on Sunday 4 August 2002.
TWO The mobile phone of Jessica Chapman explicitly detached from the mobile network at 6.46pm. This was the last recorded signal.
THREE Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman died in 5 College Close on Sunday 4 August 2002.
FOUR The only other person in 5 College Close at the time of their deaths was Ian Huntley.
FIVE Ian Huntley removed the dead girls from the house and transported them in the Ford Fiesta car to the place where they were found near RAF Lakenheath.