Jury back for fourth day of deliberations in Soham trial

The jury in the Soham murder trial will begin its fourth day of deliberations today after failing to reach verdicts against Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr.

Mr Justice Moses urged the seven women and five men not to discuss the case overnight, adding: "I will give you further directions tomorrow."

Ian Huntley, 29, a former caretaker at Soham Village College, denies murdering Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman on Sunday 4 August last year but has admitted a single charge of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

The jury has heard he admits Holly died accidentally in his bath and that he killed Jessica as he tried to silence her screams. He then bundled their bodies into his car, dumped them in the remote ditch where they were found 13 days later, cut off their clothes and set fire to their corpses.

His ex-girlfriend Ms Carr, 26, a former classroom assistant, denies conspiring to pervert the course of justice and two counts of assisting an offender. She has told the jury she lied to protect her fiancé, giving him a false alibi, but insisted she never suspected he could be involved in the girls' disappearance.