Maxine Carr was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison after trying to protect her murderous boyfriend Ian Huntley after he killed two school girls – and she quickly became a target while behind bars
As the most hated woman in Britain, she quickly became a target to fellow lags behind bars.
Maxine Carr left the nation reeling after she tried to cover up the unimaginable crimes of her killer boyfriend Ian Huntley. She was jailed for providing her murderous lover with a false alibi on 4 August 2002 – the night he brutally killed schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, before dumping their bodies in an irrigation ditch in Soham, Cambridgeshire.
The former teaching assistant attempted to protect Huntley by claiming she was at home on that dreadful night – when in reality, she was in Grimsby. Holly and Jessica, both aged 10, had left a family barbecue to buy sweets when they mysteriously disappeared, only to be tragically discovered dead 13 days later.
After Carr’s lies unravelled in court, she sentenced to three and a half years behind bars. She was released after serving half of her sentence in May 2004 and also granted a new identity, said to have cost the state millions of pounds.
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During Carr’s stint at Holloway Prison, women allegedly screamed from their cells, hurling the chilling nickname “Myra Hindley Mark Two” at her. It was in reference to the 1960s crimes of Myra Hindley and Ian Brady, the British serial killers who murdered multiple children in the Manchester area. Carr did not committ murder, but her attempt to protect her killer boyfriend Huntley left the nation – and her fellow lags – disgusted.
The search operation to locate Holly and Jessica was one of the largest the nation has ever witnessed. Carr and Huntley even participated in the hunt, talking to the media and assisting locals, as well as 400 police officers and US Air Force personnel, in scouring the countryside for the missing best friends. Sick Huntley even comforted Holly’s father as the search went on.
In one interview, Carr – who was the girls’ teaching assistant – boasted about her significance to Holly and showed reporters a card Holly had made for her on the last day of term. In a conversation with a television journalist, Carr expressed: “No one believes they would ever run away. They were very close to their families. This is something that I will keep for the rest of my life. It’s what Holly gave me on the last day of term and there’s a poem written inside saying ‘to a special teaching assistant’ and that we will miss her and we will see her in the future. That was the kind of girl she was, she was just really lovely.”
Every registered sex offender in Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire was questioned, yet there appeared to be no sign of the primary school pupils. A substantial media campaign ensured Holly and Jessica remained on every newspaper’s front page and in every news broadcast for 13 days, leaving no stone unturned.
It emerged that Huntley, already under police scrutiny, had returned to the location where he discarded the bodies to remove the girls’ unique Manchester United shirts and attempted to burn them. He subsequently disposed of the shirts in a bin at his place of work, concealing them beneath another rubbish bag, but the authorities discovered them in a pivotal breakthrough for the investigation.
Huntley was found guilty of murder and received two life sentences, with a minimum term of 40 years imprisonment. Carr was sentenced to three-and-a-half years for perverting the course of justice. Upon completing half of her sentence, she was released and granted a new identity. Huntley died earlier this month after a brutal prison attack left him brain damaged.
Carr walked free from Foston Hall prison in Derbyshire in May 2004 with a new idenity for her own protection. Over the next two years, Carr was relocated to over 10 different safe houses for protection, and in 2011, reports emerged that she had welcomed her first child – a baby boy – whilst in a secure location. By 2012, she was understood to have embarked on a committed relationship with a partner who knew about her disturbing history and was reportedly ‘absolutely besotted’ with her.
By 2014, she was believed to be residing in a coastal town. The Channel 5 true crime drama – entitled Maxine – portrays her living beside the sea, with somebody calling out her name, claiming they recognised her. Authorities cannot disclose the town’s identity due to the permanent anonymity order bestowed upon Carr by the High Court over a decade ago.
She remains one of only four former UK prisoners shielded by lifelong anonymity – alongside James Bulger’s killers Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, and child murderer Mary Bell. That same year she established her coastal existence, Carr allegedly wed a man in a secret ceremony complete with all the bells and whistles.
The revelation is believed to have been a tough blow for the devastated mums of Holly and Jessica, who were denied the chance to watch their daughters carve out their own lives. “The families of Holly and Jessica will never get to see their daughters marry,” an insider revealed to the newspaper. “They will never get to enjoy their big day. They have nothing to look forward to. Why should she?”.
