Man, 36, accused of killing two boys

Police in Merseyside last night charged a 36-year-old man with the murders of two schoolboys stabbed to death during a fishing trip on Saturday.

Steven David Heaney, a factory worker from Bromborough, near Eastham, was charged with the murders of Paul Barker, 13, and Robert Gee, 12, also from Eastham. Their bodies were discovered a short distance from their abandoned bicycles and fishing gear at The Carpies, a local beauty spot, after they failed to return home from a fishing trip.

He will appear in custody at Birkenhead magistrates' court this morning.

Mr Heaney had been questioned by police at Manor Road police station in Merseyside several times since the boys' bodies were found on Sunday.

Officers were interviewing him on Monday when a decision was taken to arrest him at about 5pm, though detectives only revealed the move yesterday. The suspect is single and thought to live with his parents.

Meanwhile, specially trained police officers were yesterday comforting the family of seven-year-old Sophie Hook at their Cheshire home as they sought to uncover vital information in the hunt for her killer.

At Rhyl police station in North Wales, detectives continued to question a man about the brutal murder in the seaside resort of Llandudno. The girl was assaulted and strangled on Saturday night after being lured or abducted from the back garden of her uncle's house while camping there with her sister and a cousin, both aged nine.

North Wales police said a warrant issued for the man's detention had been extended until 9am today. They spent the day trying to trace people who had been staying in hotels in the seaside resort, while her parents visited the stretch of beach where she was found.

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