Girls are the best of friends

Grinning shyly into the camera, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman are the picture of childish sweetness and innocence. They had just enjoyed a Sunday afternoon barbecue at Holly's house, spent a short while playing on her computer, and were about to head outside to make the most of the summer sunshine.

What happened after the camera was put away and the girls skipped on to the street is still a mystery to the hundreds of police working on what has become Britain's biggest hunt of its kind.

Inseparable best friends, Holly and Jessica are in the same class at school, live just a few streets away from each other, and spend all their free time chatting, playing and doing each other's hair.

Of the two, friends describe blonde Holly as the quieter and more girlish. The only daughter of Nicola, 35, and Kevin, 38, who runs a contract cleaning business, she lives with them and her 12-year-old brother Oliver in a four-bedroom modern detached house in Red House Gardens, a quiet, welltodo cul-de-sac off Soham's main street.

The Wells family is a close and supportive one, and Holly's parents have shown a united and courageous front facing the media to appeal for their daughter's safe return.

Over the past 10 days their house has seen a constant stream of relations visiting, including Holly's uncle Andrew Wells and cousins Paul, 11, and Michael, eight.

Detective Sergeant Chris Mead, the police liaison officer who has helped the family from the start of their ordeal, told yesterday how Oliver has been traumatised by his younger sister's disappearance.

He said: "Oliver is missing Holly and looks forward to the time when he can argue with her and do all the other normal things brothers and sisters do."

An affectionate and creative child, Holly has spent hours making cards and keepsakes for friends, including a Valentine's card for her schoolfriend Sean Flack, and a "thank you for teaching me" card for her form teacher, Joy Pederson.

This week Mrs Pederson, 38, described Holly as a keen and talented dancer, a kind and helpful child who works hard and enjoys games. Friends say Holly, who was thrilled to be attendant to the Soham Carnival Queen last year, also loves singing, playing the cornet, and being a majorette.

She is a particularly popular pupil at St Andrews primary school, where her friends include 10-year-old Natalie Parr, who stayed at Holly's house the night before she disappeared.

Natalie has told how she and Holly went shopping for sweets on Saturday afternoon, stayed up late for a midnight feast that night, and then lay in late on Sunday morning, listening to music by S Club Juniors, Holly's favourite band.

Pop music is one of Jessica's passions as well. She particularly likes S Club 7 and Steps. She is the more outgoing and confident of the two, a spirited tomboy with a cheeky grin who dotes on her pet cat Fluffy and dog Toby.

Sean Flack, 10, who knows both girls well, said: "Holly prefers stuff a girly girl would do, make-up and doing her hair. But Jessica likes playing football - she is not a girly girl." Jessica is the youngest daughter of Sharon, 43, and engineer Leslie, 51. They and her sisters Rebecca, 16, and Alison, 14, live in a four-bedroom semi-detached house in Brook Street, near Soham's picturesque pond.

The Chapmans had just returned from a fortnight's holiday in Menorca when she went to the barbecue at Holly's house and gave her a necklace that she had bought there. Jessica is a member of Soham Town Rangers Under-11 football team and idolises David Beckham, who appealed for the girls to go home last week. She is also a keen swimmer and, like Holly and most children their age, a keen emailer and proficient user of the internet.

Like her best friend, Jessica enjoys close relationships with her family. Her parents, who are older than Holly's, have found it more difficult to cope with their distress in the glare of the media.

To keep their two elder girls busy, the Chapmans have organised a stream of activities including a shopping trip, and today the girls were meant to be visiting the seaside.

Like the millions of people around the world whose hearts have bled for them, today the parents of little Jessica and Holly can only look at that shyly-posed snapshot and cling to the hope that the girls are found alive.