Remembering Soham, 15 years on

"It doesn't help that I was one of the last people to speak to them, if not the last person to speak to them," he says softly but confidently.

"I keep reliving that conversation, thinking perhaps if something different had been said, perhaps I could have kept them here a bit longer, it would have changed events."

With hindsight, people have observed that his body language and slightly formal turn of phrase betrayed what we now know – that far from being a concerned local, anxious for the girls' safe return, Huntley was the brutal murderer responsible for their death. But at the time, most people who watched the interview would never have thought the ever-so-helpful school caretaker, who so freely gave his time to the television news crews, was harbouring such a dark secret.

It is 15 years today since 10-year-old best friends Holly and Jessica vanished from a family barbecue, thrusting the sleepy Cambridgeshire market town of Soham into the public eye in a way it had never seen before.

It had been a balmy Sunday evening, and the girls had been at a barbecue at the house of Holly's family. Dressed in matching David Beckham Manchester United shirts, the girls slipped out at about 6.30pm, apparently to buy sweets, but would never be seen again. At first, their families were not too worried, assuming the girls were playing in Holly's bedroom, but when they went to check on the girls two hours later, it became apparent that they had gone missing.

The next day a police helicopter was called to carry out an extensive search of the area, assisted by personnel from the US Air Force stationed at nearby RAF Mildenhall. About 100 locals also volunteered to help with the search.

In another of his many interviews, Huntley told TV news reporter Jeremy Thomson how the girls had walked past his house after stopping for a chat. In reality, he lured them into his home, telling them that his girlfriend Maxine Carr ­– who had worked as a teaching assistant at St Andrew's School, where the girls were pupils – was in the house. Carr would support his version of events, claiming she had been in the bath at the time the girls passed the house. But it was a lie and Carr was actually 112 miles away in Grimsby. And shortly after the girls entered the house, Huntley murdered them.

Police said they found a crib sheet in Huntley's handwriting when they searched Huntley and Carr's house, presumably drilling Carr in what to say when questioned. The pair were arrested during the early hours of August 17, and by coincidence Holly and Jessica's bodies were discovered later that day by a member of the public.

It later emerged that during the search police also found clothing identical to that worn by Holly and Jessica, including the matching Manchester United shirts. But even this did not prevent Huntley trying another audacious attempt at a defence when he appeared in court. Having spent almost a fortnight telling the media how he had watched the girls walk away from his house after a brief conversation, he brazenly changed his story.

This time he confessed that the girls had died in his house, but that he had accidentally knocked Holly into the bath while helping her deal with a nosebleed. This caused her to drown, the court was told, and Huntley then accidentally suffocated Jessica while attempting to stifle her screaming. By the time he realised what he was doing, it was too late to save either of them. On this basis, he admitted manslaughter.

The jury rejected his claims that the girls had died accidentally and, on December 2003, returned a majority verdict of guilty on both counts of murder. Huntley was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment, with a ruling that he must serve at least 40 years. Carr was jailed for three-and-a-half years for perverting the course of justice, but was released in 2004 and given a new identity.

Despite Huntley's polished appearances on TV, some of the journalists who interviewed Huntley were already suspicious of his behaviour and voiced their concerns to police.

Press Association reporter Brian Farmer had concerns about Huntley during the first interview he gave to the media on August 8, four days after the girls' disappearance. Huntley's demeanour seemed strange, Mr Farmer recalled, and he also changed key details about his final sighting of the girls.

The same day BBC producer Debbie Tubby also contacted police after Huntley became agitated when he overheard her tell her newsdesk on the phone that there was about to be a "significant development" in the case.

Miss Tubby said Huntley started sweating nervously and asked her if police had found the girls' clothes – before their bodies had been found, and it was known that their clothes had been removed.

Huntley also told her he was thinking about leaving Soham because he "couldn't cope", and said the police thought he had killed the girls because he was the last person to see them.

Mr Farmer said Huntley also became extremely emotional when asked about the girls' disappearance, in a manner that was more like that of a close relative than a vague acquaintance.

"As the interview continued, Huntley became quite distressed," he said.

"There were tears in his eyes, he was crying as he talked about the girls.

"At one point he said, 'They haven't run away. They were as happy as Larry...if anybody had tried to get hold of them they would have screamed the house down, especially Jessica'.

"But what ran through my mind was how could he possibly know that?' And why was he crying? He didn't know them but he was behaving more like a close relative would behave.

"I decided that this might be someone the police might be looking at. I already knew he might have been the last person to see them.

"I decided that we had to get a photograph of him while we had the chance in case he was arrested."

Miss Tubby remembered how Huntley became agitated when he overheard her say there was going to be a significant development, but later became more relaxed when it emerged no new evidence had been found.

Another TV interview, on August 10 – still before the bodies were discovered ­– had to be halted because Carr kept referring to the girls in the past tense, as if she knew they dead.

"They were brilliant kids," she told the BBC's Rachel Dale.

"They actually wanted to be my bridesmaids when I get married. I'm engaged and Jessica said she would wear a dress because she's a bit of a tomboy – they were very close to me.

"They used to say 'Miss Carr you're so cool' because I was sort of younger than the teachers."

While Huntley had no previous convictions, it was revealed after the trial that he had in the past been charged with rape and burglary, and allegations of other crimes including sex offences had been made against him. Howard Gilbert, headmaster of Soham Village College, where Huntley worked, said he would never given him the job had he known about Huntley's background. The case led to the introduction of Criminal Record Bureau checks for people employed in positions of trust.

It is hard to believe it is now 15 years since the murders, and that Holly and Jessica would now be 25, possibly with careers and families of their own. The house where the girls were murdered has been demolished, and following the convictions Soham has reverted to becoming the peaceful market town it was before the murders.

But a decade-and-a-half on, the crime which shocked the nation still casts a shadow over this tranquil corner of East Anglia.