Bodies are confirmed as Holly and Jessica

Police finish searching home of suspect's father but recheck other scenes for evidence

The two dead girls discovered in woodland 10 miles from their homes in Soham were formally identified yesterday as Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

The children's parents were told of the development, which follows four days of scientific analysis. They had already been told by Cambridgeshire police that the victims found near RAF Lakenheath were almost certainly the missing 10-year-olds. Officers said yesterday that several days had been needed to identify the girls because they were decomposed, but declined to give further details. Forensic scientists will have used DNA samples, or possibly dental records, in the identification process.

They were found next to a country path at Lakenheath, Suffolk, on Saturday at about noon by a gamekeeper, 13 days after the friends went missing.

Post-mortem tests earlier in the week failed to determine the cause of death and further examinations are being made.

A police spokesman said: "Following further examination, the bodies have now been positively identified as those of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

"The area continues to remain cordoned off from public access." A team of 50 scene of crime officers was searching for evidence yesterday at the Lakenheath site and the primary and secondary schools where Ian Huntley, 28, the man charged with the girls' murder, worked and lived with his girlfriend Maxine Carr, 25, who appeared in court charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice. The searches are expected to continue for several days.

Thespokesman said officers were rechecking ground and property in case any evidence had been missed.

The initial search of the bungalow belonging to Mr Huntley's father, Kevin, was concluded yesterday. A team of officers spent three days at the house in Littleport, Cambridgeshire, starting with a search of the garden, then of the inside of the house and finally the hedges bordering it, for which they used metal detectors. Some 50 items of potential evidence have been taken away for analysis and the house will remain cordoned off and empty until that analysis has been concluded, which could take weeks.

Flowers and messages of condolence continued to pour in from throughout the country. An internet site set up two days ago by the police has received 92,000 messages of sympathy for Holly and Jessica and their families.

The churchyard in Soham is now awash with at least 10,000 floral bouquets to the girls. The vicar at St Andrew's Church described the outpouring of emotion in his parish as "staggering". The Reverend Tim Alban Jones has presided over a steady stream of visitors, bearing bouquets, cuddly toys and messages of sympathy to the families of the girls.

Joyce Froud, 71, a visitor to the church, said: "I've never seen such an overwhelming display since Princess Diana. They've come from all over the world. It's very moving."

Inside the church there are now six books of remembrance, all almost full with messages of condolence. A large stone table bearing hundreds of candles lit for the girls has now been extended by two benches and a large tray.

Meanwhile the manager of Rampton secure hospital in Nottinghamshire, where Mr Huntley is having psychiatric assessments to see whether he is fit to stand trial, said that there was a constant risk that some patients might try to fake mental illness.

Dr Mike Harris said his staff were trained to watch patients 24 hours a day to assess whether they were genuinely ill.

Since his arrest on Saturday Mr Huntley has not given a coherent answer to questions put to him by detectives and has been acting in an unstable way. Before his arrest he gave several interviews to journalists and statements to the police.

Dr Harris, forensic services director of Nottinghamshire NHS Healthcare Trust, which runs the hospital, declined to talk about individual cases but said: "There is always that risk that people might not be genuine, and our staff are aware of it. If you can observe a patient 24 hours a day you can see whether the symptoms are real."

Mr Harris added that it was "very unusual" for a suspect to be sent straight to the high-security hospital, which houses up to 400 patients at a time, from a police station before being charged.

Mr Huntley was taken to Rampton in the early hours of Tuesday and not charged on two counts of murder until about 5pm that day.