School Worker Is Charged in Girls’ Deaths

A school caretaker was charged Tuesday with the murders of two 10-year-old girls whose disappearance from an English village has dominated the news for two weeks and shocked much of the country.

Police said they had charged Ian Huntley, 28, with the murders of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells. Hours later, they charged his girlfriend, Maxine Carr, with attempting to obstruct justice. Carr, 25, was a teaching assistant at the girls school in Soham, in eastern England. She had been arrested Saturday at the same time as Huntley on suspicion of murder.

Det. Chief Inspector Andy Hebb of the Cambridgeshire police said Huntley had undergone a series of medical examinations and had been transferred to a secure unit under mental health laws.

At Rampton psychiatric hospital in Nottinghamshire, Dr. Mike Harris said a 28-year-old patient had been admitted for assessment because of concerns about his fitness to be questioned by police. Huntley will not appear until he is deemed fit to attend, police said.

Carr remained in custody pending her appearance today at Peterborough Magistrates Court. The children’s bodies were found Saturday near the U.S. air base of Lakenheath, seven miles from Soham, but examinations failed to reveal the cause of death.