Disturbed earth was badger set

The mounds of earth police feared might have been the shallow graves of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were probably badger sets, detectives said today.

Detective Constable Brian Stevens, one of the family liaison officers keeping the Chapmans up to date with developments and who spent last night at their home, said: "It was a very long and intense evening. There was a vigil. No one slept. There was very little conversation - it was a quiet, solemn affair.

"Just before 4am we had a call and were told that the first area was of no interest to this inquiry. It appeared to be a badger set and the second area was likely to be the same."

The families of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman today spoke of their rollercoaster night of anguish before police searching woodland near their homes told them they had not found the bodies of their missing daughters.

Holly's father Kevin said the news had brought them a "glimmer of hope" which would give him and his wife Nicola, 35, strength to carry on fighting for their daughter. Mr Wells, 38, said: "It's been an incredible rollercoaster of a night. We found out the news officially at about 6.30am. It's been extremely upsetting.

"We were obviously fearing the worst, but we are still here to carry on the fight and while there is still a glimmer of hope, we shall carry that fight on."

The two sets of parents had spent the longest night of their lives dreading the worst after a jogger reported two mounds of freshly dug earth less than 10 miles from the girls' homes in Soham, Cambridgeshire, and hearing screams in the night on the Sunday the two 10-year-olds vanished 10 days ago.

Fearing they had found a pair of shallow graves, a team of detectives and forensic science experts carried out a fingertip search which lasted all night as police liaison officers sat with the parents. But at 6.30am, after more than 14 hours of searching, the man leading the teams at the Warren Hill site, Det Chief Insp Andy Hebb, said: "We have not found anything here connected to the disappearance of Jessica and Holly.

"We must now regain our focus on to getting Jessica and Holly back alive and well to their parents. My heart goes out to the parents at this time. It has been a very long and distressing night for both sets of parents."

Describing their night-long vigil for news, Holly's grandmother, Agnes Wells, 61, broke down in tears as she spoke of the "horrific" wait.

She said that although Holly's parents were "coping badly", they were bearing up, with this morning's news giving them added hope that Holly may still be alive.

She went on: "Just imagine if you thought your grandchild was dead. Last night, they were dead but this morning we have a little hope. It was absolutely horrific. We had to prepare for the worst and it wasn't until this morning that we heard the news."

Describing the harrowing ordeal, she said: "We were all in tears, it was just horrific, it was one of the longest nights of my life." Crossing her fingers in the air, Mrs Wells wiped away tears as she said: "We are clinging on to hope."

Mrs Wells said the local community had been "magnificent" with the support they had given the family over the past 10 days. "It's just unbelievable. The community have really got together."

Earlier, Det Chief Insp Hebb had told reporters that a detailed and painstaking search of the area which he compared to an archaeological dig, had been carried out throughout the night.

Shortly after 1am, officers had put up a white tent on a metal frame and carried it into the trees on Warren Hill overlooking the town of Newmarket, intensifying fears they had found graves.

Forensic science officers in white overalls used powerful floodlights to help their examination of the two patches of recently dug earth lying 30 yards apart.

The girls' families were told to "brace themselves for the worst". The first clue that the search was to prove a false alarm came in the early hours when police said the initial search was "inconclusive".

The search had been launched when the jogger who discovered the mounds of earth at 4.30pm yesterday told police how he heard screaming in the same patch of woodland on the Sunday night the girls disappeared.

The man first told police last Tuesday he was walking his dogs in the area when he heard what he thought was teenagers screaming sometime between 10.40pm and 11.10pm on 4 August.

Police cordoned off a 300-metre-square area of woodland at 4.25pm after the jogger returned to the area yesterday and reported his discovery to police and then led officers to the site.

Warren Hill is owned by the Jockey Club and used to exercise racehorses from the stables in and around Newmarket. The area, which is restricted to the horses during the mornings and open to the public in the afternoon, is surrounded by stud farms and large houses, including one belonging to trainer Henry Cecil.

This morning's development means the police inquiry is now back at square one with little further progress in the investigation or clues as to how or why the girls went missing. Detectives still believe they were snatched from the street by an abductor and have appealed to him to release them.

Their best lead now appears to be the taxidriver who spotted two children in a green car apparently struggling with the driver, who he said was swerving all over the A142 from Soham to Newmarket shortly after they went missing on Sunday 4 August..

Ian Webster, who lives in Newmarket, said the driver was waving his arms around in the car in a "demented" fashion. The man was described as white, aged between 38 and 45, with black, wiry, unkempt hair and tanned, Mediterranean skin, and dressed in dark clothing.

No one has so far responded to police appeals for him to come forward.

Last night, Mr and Mrs Wells, and Jessica's mother and father, Sharon and Leslie Chapman, were being supported by close family and friends at their homes just streets apart in Soham. Police family liaison officers were on hand.

As they waited to hear what police had found in the woods, the Wells kept an open house, with family and friends coming in and out, Holly's 12-year-old brother Oliver playing in the garden and Mr Wells constantly on the phone. At the Chapmans' home, windows and doors remained firmly shut.

The foreboding spread throughout the town, with pubs closing in the early evening as news spread of the woodland search.

The discovery came nine days after police launched a missing persons inquiry which became the biggest ever mounted in Britain.

The two girls went missing after they were last seen going upstairs to Holly's room during a family barbecue on the evening of 4 August. When Holly's family went to check on them at 8.30pm, they found they were gone.

Hours earlier, police discovered they had played on Holly's computer in a downstairs room and then it appeared they had slipped out unnoticed and were spotted by more than a dozen people roaming around the centre of Soham.

Many people thought they had gone out to buy sweets and the last sighting of them was at 7.20pm in the High Street walking along chatting happily to each other.

At first, police and the families prayed they had simply taken off on an adventure and perhaps got lost. A massive search got under way with hundreds of officers and members of the public combing the area.

As the days passed, fears grew that they had been abducted and the police investigation turned into a criminal inquiry with officers convinced they were dealing with a paedophile.

Detectives began checking the high-risk suspects among the 266 registered sex offenders in Cambridgeshire alone and then widened their search to neighbouring counties.

? Police are planning to search the entire area of Warren Hill where the two mounds of earth were discovered to be sure it contains no clues to the whereabouts of Holly and Jessica.