Funerals of Soham girls take place in private

The families of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells have laid the girls to rest at small private funerals almost a month after the 10-year-old best friends went missing.

Holly was buried yesterday after a service at St Andrew's Church in Soham, Cambridgeshire. Jessica was cremated on Monday after a quiet ceremony at the same church.

The families held the funerals away from the glare of media attention but issued confirmation through the vicar of St Andrew's, the Rev Tim Alban Jones, that they had said their final farewells.

He declined to describe the services, saying only: "Holly was buried [yesterday] and a service was held for Jessica [on Monday]. They were private ceremonies for family and close friends only."

Cambridgeshire police said the families had asked that no information on the funerals be released. The families considered the public had already made its contribution to the memories of the girls at a service to celebrate their brief lives at Ely Cathedral last Friday. Up to 2,000 people were at the service, two days before Jessica's 11th birthday.

Ian Huntley, 28, the former Soham Village College caretaker, has been charged with the girls' murders and is being held at Rampton high-security hospital in Nottinghamshire under the Mental Health Act.

His partner, Maxine Carr, 25, a teaching assistant in Holly's and Jessica's class, has been accused of attempting to pervert the course of justice and is on remand in prison. Her lawyers have said they are looking for a safe house before making an application for her to be freed on bail until her trial.

Staff at the two schools, which have been sealed off for the past two weeks during a detailed police search for clues, are preparing for the start of the new term.

The search is now coming to an end and staff are being allowed back into parts of the buildings in readiness for the start of term on Monday.