Soham head 'longs to hear laughter again'
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Your support makes all the difference.The headteacher whose school is at the centre of the investigation into the murders of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells said yesterday that he longed for the return of children's laughter to Soham.
As the education authority discussed how to cater for 1,300 pupils whose classrooms are being examined by police, Howard Gilbert added his voice to the calls for normal life to return to the Cambridgeshire town. "I long to walk across the playground with children getting on with the school day, having a laugh and having some sort of normality," Mr Gilbert, the principal of Soham Village College, said.
Ten days after they were found, the bodies of Holly and Jessica were released yesterday so their families could prepare for the funerals.
Ian Huntley, 28, the man charged with the girls' murders, was a caretaker at Soham Village College. His girlfriend, Maxine Carr, 25, who has been charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice, was a teaching assistant at St Andrew's primary school, which was attended by Holly and Jessica. Mr Gilbert said: "Professionally it is hard to imagine a much worse scenario than the one we are having to deal with. The word horrific is overused but I think I have discovered what it means in the last few weeks."
While Cambridgeshire officials said they were optimistic St Andrew's would be ready by the start of term on 9 September, they were only "hopeful" the same would apply to the senior school. The education authority has drawn up contingency plans to bring in mobile classrooms.
A spokesman said: "Police understand the need to give parents reassuring messages but they have a very complex inquiry to carry out. There are problems moving that number of pupils somewhere else. It's a logistical nightmare."
Teachers will also have to contend with the confusion and grief the deaths have caused. The spokesman said social workers and counsellors would be on hand at the beginning of term.
The college has set up a temporary office in Soham's main street for teachers to prepare for the new term, while parents have been invited to a series of meetings to air their concerns.
The girls' funerals are expected to take place next week. They will be private, but the families are inviting 2,000 people to a service at Ely Cathedral this Friday to celebrate the girls' lives.
In Clase, Swansea yesterday, a man aged 83 was chased from his home by a mob of about 100 people – mostly women with children – which accused him of being a paedophile. Police moved the man to another address and called for calm after several emergency service vehicles were damaged during the trouble. Byron Owen, a Swansea county councillor, said: "Things just boiled over because of the recent happenings in Soham."
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