Carr faces 20 fraud charges

Maxine Carr must face trial in front of a jury on 20 charges of fraud, a magistrate ruled today.

The former girlfriend of Ian Huntley was brought from Holloway prison for a 34-minute hearing today at Peterborough magistrates court.

She was confronted with a new indictment of 20 charges accusing her of benefit fraud and lying in job applications, including gaining a post under false pretences at the Soham school attended by Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

The offences carry a maximum sentence of 10 years.

Carr, 27, is due for release on 17 May but will be brought before Peterborough Crown Court on 23 April to enter a plea and could face a new trial at the end of the year. Police today mounted a major

security operation at court but when Carr arrived in a security van there was no sign of the mob fury which accompanied a previous appearance there before the Soham murder trial.

Shortly before 10am she was brought into the tiny courtroom by a woman prison officer and stood dressed in a grey jacket and blue top, with a gold pendant around her neck and her hair cut in a bob.

Court clerk Eleanor Owens asked her to confirm her name and date of birth and she gave her current address as HMP Holloway.

Marion Bastin, for the Crown, outlineddetails of the 20 charges - eight more than the original indictment issued earlier this month. She is accused of lying on her CV "to dishonestly obtain a pecuniary advantage" to get a job as a teaching assistant at St Andrews Church of England primary school in Soham in 2002.

Similar charges covered job applications to be a production operative with Blue Crest in Grimsby, a store associate with Bhs in Scunthorpe and a sales assistant at the One Stop Shop in Soham.

There are 10 counts of obtaining a money transfer by deception by falsely claiming housing benefit in applications to North Lincolnshire council in

2001. She is alleged to have falsely claimed "she was not living with a partner".

Carr is accused of claiming a total of £3,808 in benefits to which she was not entitled. She is said fraudulently to have claimed £1,287 in housing benefit from North Lincolnshire council and £2,521 in benefits, such as the jobseeker's allowance and income support, while she was working as a teacher's assistant at St Andrew's. Carr exercised her right not to enter a plea to the charges at this stage.

Chairman of the bench Peter Marshall committed her for trial and granted her bail, a "technical decision" as she is in custody. Her legal aid was extended to cover the Crown Court proceedings.

Carr is serving three and a half years after being convicted of attempting to pervert the course of justice by providing Huntley with a false alibi when Holly and Jessica disappeared in August 2002. At an Old Bailey trial last December she was cleared of assisting Huntley in the cover-up.

Huntley was jailed for life for the murders of the two schoolgirls.