Ian Huntley was able to secure a job as a school caretaker at Soham Village College despite being suspected of nine sex crimes, as he managed to get hired with a simple “trick”
The Soham murders in August 2002, in which school caretaker Ian Huntley killed 10-year-old best friends Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, became “one of the biggest and most notorious police investigations in British history”.
Huntley, who died today (March 7) following a violent assault by another inmate at the high-security HMP Frankland, tried to deflect suspicion by “joining in with searches” for the girls and even invited journalists into his home, where he had killed them days earlier.
He appeared on TV, claiming he was likely the last person to see the girls before their disappearance, while secretly attempting to cover up his crimes. And, despite a disturbing history of sexual abuse involving minors, the late pervert was employed as a school caretaker.
True crime drama Maxine on Netflix has captivated viewers, particularly because it depicts how Huntley was hired as a caretaker. Moreover, it recounts the devastating story of what befell 10-year-old pupils Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.
Narrated through the eyes of Maxine Carr, murderer Huntley’s partner, the four-part series poses questions about her knowledge of the school caretaker’s sinister secret whilst highlighting their toxic relationship. Also appearing in the drama, initially created by Channel 5, is the Soham school’s head teacher, Howard Gilbert.
He is depicted conducting an interview with Huntley, portrayed by Scott Reid, for the position of senior caretaker at the nearby secondary school, Soham Village College. Included with the position was accommodation close by, where Huntley resided with Carr, the girls’ previous teaching assistant at St Andrew’s Primary School.
It was at his “house of horrors” that on August 4, 2002, Huntley ruthlessly murdered the two best mates after enticing them inside by falsely stating Carr was present. He subsequently concealed their bodies in an irrigation ditch, near the RAF base approximately 10 miles from their residence.
The whole country was stunned when the devastating news emerged that their remains had been found by a gamekeeper nearly two weeks afterwards. It emerged that Huntley, who had previously been brought in for questioning, had returned to where he disposed of the bodies to remove the girls’ distinctive United shirts and attempted to incinerate them in an effort to eliminate any DNA evidence.
He subsequently disposed of the garments in a rubbish bin at the school where he was employed, concealing them beneath another bag of waste, but officers discovered them in a pivotal breakthrough for the investigation, reports the Mirror. On August 20, Huntley was charged with two counts of murder and handed two life sentences, with a minimum term of 40 years imprisonment.
Originally, Carr had furnished Huntley with a fabricated alibi. She claimed she was at home on that tragic evening, having a bath whilst he chatted to the friends at the front door, saying it had been a ‘shame’ that she had missed them during interviews with officers and journalists.
It emerged that she had actually been in Grimsby, where the pair first met, visiting her mother, but she denied any knowledge of Huntley’s heinous acts and insisted she believed she was shielding him from being framed. Throughout the proceedings, Carr was acquitted of assisting an offender but received three-and-a-half years for perverting the course of justice.
How did Huntley become a school employee?
After serving merely half her sentence, the now-mother-of-one was freed from Foston Hall prison in Derbyshire in May 2004 and was given a new identity to safeguard her wellbeing. Following the investigation, the Bichard inquiry was established to examine how Huntley succeeded in securing employment at a school despite being suspected of nine sex crimes, many involving underage girls.
The headteacher, Howard Gilbert, had recruited the killer in November 2001 – just 10 months before the double murder – after Cambridgeshire police checks cleared him. However, during the 2004 inquiry, Mr Gilbert outlined how screening processes failed to recognise the danger Huntley presented to young girls.
“The references should have been followed through and not to do them was a mistake” Mr Gilbert said. “It is something I have thought about long and hard given the subsequent events.”
He continued: “At the end of the day they should have been called in. A letter should have been sent to confirm that the references were genuine and authentic.”
To conceal his identity in plain sight, Huntley used his mother’s maiden name, Nixon, and claimed he had relocated to Cambridgeshire seeking a “better quality of life” and to establish a family with his fiancée. The testimonials included with his application portrayed the killer as “reliable, honest and trustworthy”.
Following Huntley’s arrest, police scrutinised his references and discovered inconsistencies in his employment history. However, the headteacher felt that discussing the sexual allegations with Huntley or rescinding the job offer would have violated his civil liberties under the Police Act 1997, prompting a call for legal reform.
In a letter submitted to the inquiry, Mr Gilbert expressed his disbelief that the current vetting procedures seemed to prioritise Huntley’s rights over the safety of the children he interacted with. “I am incredulous that the current framework could result in a man with Mr Huntley’s background not even being able to be challenged by a potential employer,” he penned.
“Such was the seriousness of his background that I believe any headteacher would have withdrawn the offer of employment given the relevant information, regardless of the legal position. I am concerned more with situations which may not be so black and white as that of Mr Huntley.”
In 2013, Mr Gilbert, then 56, declared his retirement from St Ivo school after two decades as a headteacher in Cambridgeshire.
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