Girls were laid side by side

The bodies of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were set on fire after they were laid side by side in a ditch, the Old Bailey heard today.

Photographs shown on giant screens around the courtroom showed leaves, branches, banks and undergrowth all scorched by the ferocity of the flames.

The bodies of the 10-year-olds were found near the Lakenheath air base in Suffolk, 13 miles from Soham, nearly a fortnight after they disappeared from Soham.

A pathologist said it was not possible to "exclude sexual assault" on the girls because of the degree of decomposition of the bodies, Richard Latham, QC, told the court.

"He excluded stabbing, shooting or other significant trauma," Mr Latham said.

The area surrounding the site was taped off but Mr Latham prosecuting, repeatedly reassured the seven women five man jury they would nto be forced to look at pictures of the bodies themselves.

The grave site had been deliberately chosen by Ian Huntley, 29, because it was so remote and the bottom of the ditch could not be seen from the track through the woods, the court heard. Mr Latham s a id: " The bodies of the two children were alongside one another and were initially simply described as the nearest and furthest body. Subsequently, the nearer body was found to be Jessica and the further body to be Holly.

Hair snagged on branch

"Jessica was still wearing her beaded necklace. Holly was still wearing a metal necklace with a love inscription on it." He said that human head hairs had been discovered attached to a branch immediately above the bodies on the route down to the edge of the ditch.

"Those hairs have been examined and found to match Jessica. It is, of course, a significant clue to the precise route down into the ditch that was used when the bodies were taken there because obviously those head hairs snagged on this branch as the body went down into the ditch." The jury was told that they would not be shown any photographs of Holly and Jessica's remains but that details of how they were found must be mentioned.

In a panic

Mr Latham said the bodies were "very substantially decomposed". He added: "I tell you that for a number of reasons. You have to know it. Had they not been discovered on that Saturday the decomposition was such that they may never have been found.

"They were very, very close to almost having wholly disappeared, apart from the skeletons."

Mr Latham told the jury: "You'll have to examine the mind of the man who selected this site and troubled to drive the considerable distance in order to use it." He said the bodies had been found in the ditch, just off Wangford Road, a dirt track leading up to two fields and a pheasant pen, just hours after Huntley and Carr had been arrested.

"They were not together at the time (of their arrest). You will hear evidence of precisely where they were, but they were both arrested within minutes of each other shortly before 4.30 in the morning."

He said the timing of their arrest and the discovery of the bodies had been purely "coincidental".

Refering to the 30-minute drive from Soham to the site where the bodies were found, he said: "If you are in a panic and you've got two bodies in a car that you are desperate to get rid off we would suggest that there are endless places en route to Lakenheath where you can dump bodies in the open without being seen." But he added: "If you are going to dump the bodies then they will be found almost immediately."

He then showed the jury a variety of maps and photographs of the area in which the bodies were found.

He said that a local farmer, Brian Rutterford, and two of his employees had made the discovery. They rang 999 and the area was immediately cordoned off.

The Manchester United shirts worn by Holly and Jessica were cut almost exactly in half as they were removed from their bodies, the Old Bailey was told today.

The court was shown photographs of the shirts which had been cut vertically from the bottom hem to the neck almost exactly along the centre of the tops.

Pictures of a charred silver bracelet and a half-eaten packet of Polo mints were also shown, which had been among the possessions of the girls.

In the bin where the shirts were found werealso hairs matching those of Huntley, the Old Bailey heard.

The court was also shown the fire damaged trainers which had belonged to the two girls - Jessica's were black and Holly's were white with the Nike swoosh logo visible.

Also in the bin were the burned clothing and underwear which had also been cut away from the bodies which were discovered in secret graves in woodland 13 miles from Soham.

Fingerprints

Mr Latham told the jury that Holly's bra had been bought by her mother the day before she disappeared.

The bin was discovered by police during a search of a locked storage building on the Soham Village College site, the keys to which were in Huntley's bedroom.

Huntley's fingerprints were also found on a black plastic bin liner which had been placed inside the bin, concealing the clothes from view. Huntley, who had complained yesterday of feeling unwell, was not in court and his girlfriend Maxine Carr sat alone in the dock today with prison officers.

School caretaker, Huntley, 29, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Holly and Jessica in August last year but has admitted conspiring with Carr to pervert the course of justice by giving a false alibi.

Carr, 26, a former teaching assistant, denies the conspiracy and two further charges of assisting an offender.

Mr Latham told the jury the clothing of the girls had been mixed together with two dusters, dishcloth and general debris in the bin.

Turning to Huntley's red Ford Fiesta, Mr Latham said that new carpet which had been placed in the boot had come from off-cuts from Huntley's house.

The court has heard that Huntley "sanitised" his car, replacing perfectly good tyres and ripping out a fitted carpet in the car boot after the girls had gone missing.

Today he said that the new boot carpet which did not fit exactly matched carpet installed in 5 College Close which had been renovated before Huntley and Carr moved in.

Showing a picture of the boot taken when the car was seized by police, Mr Latham told the jury to note in particular the presence of a large red petrol can and a pair of scissors.

The case continues.