Three years before the crime, the police had identified Huntley as a dangerous serial sex attacker.  He had been charged with 11 different allegations of sexual assault, but sadly enough, the reports were erased and Huntley was cleared for his caretaker job at Soham Village College.  A London court convicted Huntley of the crime in December 2003, after hearing his confession, and he began serving two concurrent life sentences, with no eligibility for parole for 40 years.  Maxine Carr, on the other hand, received a much lighter sentence of three and a half years, for the obstruction of justice in providing an alibi for Huntley’s whereabouts on the day of the girls’ disappearance

The tragedy soon became a media circus, as the tabloids went wild with photographs, conflicting reports, and graphic details of the horrific crime at every  newsstand in England.  People arrived by the busloads, carrying stuffed toys, cards, and gifts, in a frenzy to be the first on the scene.  Some brought flowers and candles; others brought lawn chairs and picnic lunches.  It was, for many, the most exciting event that had happened in some time, the perfect outing for a summer day.  The town of Soham was fast becoming a bigger tourist attraction than Cambridge itself.  Silent contemplation, genuine grief, and sympathy were lost in the crowds of gawkers and vicarious thrill seekers. Guardian.co.uk published the following picture of tourists checking out some floral tributes to the murdered girls:

 

 The scene of a tragedy was now a carnival, a tawdry and unbelievable display.  By the time the memorial service was held at the end of August, many of the tributes had disappeared, including books of condolence messages, stolen apparently by some curious onlooker.

It wasn’t until April 2004 that Ian Huntley’s house and the hangar where he had cut up and hid the girls’ clothes on the grounds of Soham Village College were finally destroyed.  The site that was once viewed by the thousands as a tragedy is now a serene, beautifully landscaped area of green, enclosed with iron railings and protected by increased security.  The crowds are gone and there is little to remind us of the heinous crime.  In May 2004, Maxine Carr was released on probation to assume a new identity under the witness protection law.  Attempts by the media to revive interest in the Soham tragedy through reporting on Carr have been banned, so far, only in England and Wales.

The village of Soham today has resumed a normal way of life, for the most part, although there are a few who continue to return, those with an incurable and insatiable curiosity about the darker side of life.   Just what it is they are looking for or hope to find, we can’t be sure.  The grieving parents, on the other hand, are left with only the memories and silent memorials of two young girls whose lives ended far too soon.  As far as the media and the public are concerned, they seem to have moved on, perhaps to wait for the next tragedy to occur.

Sharon L. Slayton