Seen again, and then they vanish

The one thing about Soham that is so noticeable is how normal it is. A typical, small English town where neighbours know each other. Within a short walking distance it has a sports centre, a primary school and a war memorial.

It was here, in the very centre of this friendly, unexceptional town, that two 10-year-old girls, who knew the roads and streets well, vanished.

That one hour they spent walking and chatting together is at the heart of the biggest police manhunt in Britain's history.

The Evening Standard has retraced their steps in an effort to unravel the mystery.

At 5pm Jessica Chapman were seen outside the Soham fish and chip shop. She was dressed in her own top, not the Beckham shirt she later borrowed from Holly Wells's brother. She then went to Holly's home in Red House Gardens, where, at exactly 5.04pm, the two girls were pictured in their Manchester United tops.

A family barbecue was being hosted when the girls went upstairs to play in Holly's room. They were discovered missing when the family went to check on them at 8.30pm.

Police now know that between 5.11pm and 5.35pm they were using Holly's computer in her room to connect to the internet. So far, they have refused to give details of what they were doing for those 24 minutes surfing the net.

At about 6.10pm, they slipped out of Holly's home, in a quiet cul- de- sac that could be described as upmarket Brookside.

The girls are believed to have walked along into Tanner's Lane where, poignantly, a sign for the local neighbourhood watch is attached to a lamppost.

They turned right into Fordham Road and into Sand Street, and after 200 yards they turned left into a short alleyway known as Gidney Lane and emerged into the car park of Ross Peers sports centre where closed-circuit television cameras mounted on the building caught a grainy image of them marching purposefully across towards the entrance at the opposite side. It was exactly 6.13pm.

They were seen by Emma Goldsacks, a receptionist who know Jessica. She said: "She was happy and she just waved and said hello. She was standing in the doorway and I asked her 'How are you' and she said 'Fine'. She gave a wave like little girls do."

They walked past a bold sign on the building warning: "These premises are protected by CCTV cameras - 24 hour recording". At 6.14pm, the girls went inside.

After buying sweets the girls come out of the sports centre and turn right onto a narrow pathway which leads directly on to the grounds of Soham college school. This takes them past the main school buildings - a total distance of less than 100 meters. They then arrived at the home of the caretaker Ian Huntley next to the school where they stopped to talk for a few moments. It took them two minutes to get this far.

It was 6.18pm when they stopped to say hello as he was washing his car. Last night, he said: "This is exactly where I saw them walking along. They were in good spirits and stopped and said hello. I can't believe they've gone.

"I just saw them for a few minutes. They didn't have a care in the world. It was a very brief conversation. When they were out there they were as happy as Larry."

Then they turned right and walked along College Road where they crossed a bridge and made another right turn into Clay Street. So far, they must have been walking for about 10 minutes.

At this point police say the girls' movements are difficult to pin down exactly since they have a confirmed sighting of the girls in nearby Sand Street at 6.30pm by a family friend, only a few hundred yards away. But wherever they had been walking, they eventually must have come back to Clay Street since police have four sightings of them approaching the war memorial at the end of that street.

Four people spot the girls hanging around the war memorial at 6.45pm - the last confirmed sighting of the girls. Police are now looking into another possible sighting of them at 7.20pm on the High Street.