Tears and grief at vigil of hope

They packed the pews and when those were full they lined the aisles and the back of St Andrew's church.

All were clutching candles handed to them as they filed through the doors of the ancient parish church in Soham. Some were schoolgirls, many were family and friends, while most had never met missing 10-yearolds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. But they all felt moved to attend the vigil to pray for their safe return.

The service opened with a hymn entitled Hopefulness and ended with more than 350 members of the congregation lighting the candles and laying them on a stone slab beside a framed picture of the young girls.

"This is very much an opportunity for us to get together as a community to express our feelings for Holly and Jessica," said Rev Tim Alban Jones.

All eyes during the service were on Holly's parents and her grandmother. The Chapmans had been due to attend but were "too distraught" to leave home.

Stewart Seymore, 38, who has known Kevin Wells - Holly's father - since he was a boy, said: "All I did in the church was pat Kevin on the back. What can one say?"

As one man hugged Mr Wells and whispered: "I'm so sorry," a woman waiting to place her candle whispered to a friend: "The worse thing is they will never see their little girl grow up."