Friends call to share grief

Schoolfriends of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman are pouring their hearts out to trained counsellors as they try to come to terms with their grief.

A helpline set up today for parents and children in Soham took 60 calls in the first four hours.

Some calls lasted a few seconds and were simple requests for information, others were highly emotional and lasted up to an hour. Several came from callers who hung up, too traumatised to speak. The counsellors' team leader Jenny Pardoe said: "We have had children ringing in who have had their trust in adults totally shattered by what has happened, and we have had to help them see that they must rebuild that trust.

"We have also had parents ringing in, wanting to know how to talk to the children about what has happened."

More than 2,100 pupils in the town are to get letters offering support and advising them of the helpline number following the murder of the 10-year-olds.

The calls are being taken by a 15-strong team of educational psychologists and social workers operating in shifts at Cambridgeshire county council's headquarters in Cambridge.

The service will be run for "as long as it is needed," pledged Cambridgeshire chief executive Alan Barnish.

The helpline was set up on the advice of council officials in Surrey, where Milly Dowler vanished. Detectives today pledged justice for the girls' families as they continued to question two people in connection with the disappearance and murder of the two best friends.

One senior officer said: "Our work continues to ensure that the families of these girls get justice and this community can return to some degree of normality."

School caretaker Ian Huntley, 28, and former teaching assistant Maxine Carr, 25, remain in custody today. Magistrates yesterday granted police a 36-hour extension to continue questioning the couple who were arrested at 4am on Saturday. The extension will take them up to 4am tomorrow.

In theory police can question suspects for 96 hours before they are obliged to either charge or release them.

Detectives will need a magistrates' order to question the pair for a further 24 hours which will take them through to the maximum time of 4am on Wednesday.

The girls disappeared after going for a walk around Soham on Sunday 4 August.

A Cambridge council spokesman said that part of the grounds of Soham Village College and St Andrew's Primary School may remain sealed off for some time. He added: "Somewhere in the secondary school items of significance were found. We don't know what they were but if it was clothing in a classroom it may not be appropriate to use that classroom."

Late last night the bodies of the girls were taken from where they were discovered beside a perimeter fence near RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, 15 miles from Soham. An ambulance escorted by police cars carried the bodies to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge. Forensic science teams continued a search of Huntley's home.

The moment the town dreaded came at 7pm yesterday when acting Deputy Chief Constable Keith Hoddy announced that the bodies were those of the girls.

Speaking at St Andrew's Church in Soham, he said it could be days before they are formally identified but police were as "certain as we possibly can be" that it was the girls.

Mr Hoddy, who took charge of the investigation last week, said it was "with great sadness" that he had to deliver the news and led a short silence.

Downing Street revealed that Tony Blair and his family have been "very distressed" by events in Soham and have followed developments while on holiday in France.

In statements, the families of the two girls thanked the community.

Leslie and Sharon Chapman said: "We would like to thank everybody for their kindness and support during this very tense and traumatic time, especially family, friends and the family liaison officers."

Nicola and Kevin Wells said: "Although still numb after losing our gorgeous daughter Holly please accept our heartfelt thanks."

? After a request from police for the media to give the families of Holly and Jessica privacy to come to terms with their grief, the Evening Standard has withdrawn its journalists from Soham.