Maxine claims credit for Huntley's sentence

Maxine Carr has caused outrage by claiming she is responsible for putting her killer lover Ian Huntley behind bars and saying she should be thanked for her help.

The 27-year-old even wrote to one of Huntley's past girlfriends and said: 'I'm glad I've ended his life of hurting others.'

Carr was jailed for three-and-a-half years at the Old Bailey in December after she lied to protect her former boyfriend, who killed Soham ten-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

She has always maintained she was only trying to stop police from 'fitting up' Huntley for the crimes. Now she is convinced that the information she eventually gave police was crucial in helping them build their case against him.

A source close to Carr, who is due to be released in May, said: 'Maxine believes that if she had not told the police what she did, they would not have got to the bottom of all the past cases against Huntley, which included allegations of rape.

'She is angry that the police have dragged her name through the mud, yet most of what came out about Huntley, she says she gave them.'

In fact, police received numerous calls from the Grimsby area, where Carr and Huntley used to live, telling them Huntley had been accused of crimes in the past, while a local newspaper tipped them off about the time he appeared in court on a rape charge.

It was not until the end of last year's double murder trial that it could be reported that Huntley had been accused of raping or sexually assaulting nine young girls before he murdered Holly and Jessica.

All the attacks were reported to police or social services - yet he was never brought to trial.

Yesterday, it was revealed Carr has written to Huntley's former girlfriend Katie Webber, who has a five-year- old daughter called Samantha by him, and to Katie's mother Jacqui.

In a handwritten P.S. on notepaper decorated with pictures of a tortoise and a donkey, she said: 'I'm glad Katie and Sam are OK. The future for me is not clear yet, but I would like contact.

'I have always felt sorry for your daughter and grandchild. They had a lucky escape.

'I'm glad I've ended his life of hurting others.'

While in prison, Carr is said to have received around 200 letters of support a day.

But it is claimed she has built up a rosy picture of the public's opinion of her because prison officers do not allow her to see other letters, which vilify her.

Carr was found guilty in December of conspiring to pervert the course of justice in the inquiry into the murders, but not guilty of two counts of assisting an offender.

She was then recommended for early release by Ed Willetts, the governor of Holloway Prison.

But earlier this month, her application for early release under the electronic tagging scheme was rejected on the grounds that she was 'indelibly' associated with the Soham murders.

She will be officially eligible for release on May 17 anyway, when she will have served half her sentence because of the time she spent in custody on remand. After reading the letter, Katie Webber's mother Jacqui, 45, said: 'Maxine should be able to come home - she'll need all the support she can get.

' She'll get some hassle from people, but they don't know what Huntley is like.

'He is so manipulative and evil. He made Katie leave school, stopped her going out, beat and raped her.

'Maxine is a victim of Huntley like anyone else. We know she did wrong by lying to the police but she has paid for that.

'When she's done her time, she should be able to live in peace near her family.'

Norman Brennan, of the Victims of Crime Trust, said he believed Carr's decision to claim credit for the jailing of Huntley was a 'calculated' attempt to win the sympathy of the public.

'Maxine Carr is a scheming liar who lied and lied throughout the most important part of the police investigation,' he said.

'She diverted police resources away from Huntley and now she wants the country to feel sorry for her - well, the country doesn't feel sorry for her.

'Once and for all, I wish Maxine Carr would shut up.

'The families of Holly and Jessica have a right to be able to pick up their lives and the more she witters on the more difficult it is for them to do so.'