It is far too premature to pass judgements on the Soham murder inquiry, but that is exactly what the gutter press, with it’s insatiable craving for the macabre has done, by leading the public through a gamut of emotions, from sorrow to rage, over the murder of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, reporting every heart-wrenching nuance of the case, including an uncomfortable minutes silence at sporting venues and supermarkets. Now the tabloids are blaming the same baying mob they created for, “not only running amok, but running the courts as well.”

This media circus served as a distraction from the lax police investigation, which supposedly was unable to positively identify the victims, although they had only been deceased for two weeks, or ascertain the cause and place of death. Yet, the bodies have already been released by the Coroner to the bereaved families for burial and a hasty ‘National Celebration’ of their very recently lost lives, in an effort to allow the two thousand people who got tickets to attend Ely Cathedral, “to move on” - therefore we must assume the Criminologists have completed all the necessary DNA tests.

The authorities have been equally unsuccessful in solving the Amanda Dowler case and John Stalker, a former deputy chief constable said, whoever snatched her “had the luck of the Devil” because the close circuit cameras were not working, but assuredly we are reminded that more CCTV will ‘protect’ us and they took the opportunity to advertise chipped GPS bracelets for children’s ‘safety’ in response to a spate of child abductions at home and abroad.

The suspect in Soham, Ian Huntley is the first guinea-pig to which the stringent new Mental Health Act amendments have applied, enabling psychiatrists to forcibly medicate and detain him for a month, while his behaviour is assessed, although he has not been convicted of any crime or certified insane. Dr. Harris, Forensic Services Director of Rampton Hospital, founded as an asylum in 1912 under the Criminal Lunatics Act of 1860, said this "is not unheard of, but it is very unusual." Huntley was perfectly capable of articulating coherent replies to reporters questions before his arrest, but afterwards, according to police was reduced to a gibbering wreck, unfit to answer questions or appear in court.

His girlfriend, Maxine Carr was made an object of hate and held in the harsh Holloway Prison for women, also built in the 19th Century, with it’s regime of bullying, sexual harassment and intimidation, which caused the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Sir David Ramsbotham, to walk out in disgust on his first visit. Accused of perjury, it has not been established whether Carr was complicit in this double murder, but the media is stirring up a resurgence in the desire for reinstating the death penalty by comparing her to notorious Myra Hindley, so the “democratic (mind-controlled) majority” support this barbaric proposal, right on cue. Although I feel a certain empathy for the murdered girls and the child victims of Hindley and Brady, I would not be compelled to make a ghoulish pilgrimage to Saddleworth Moor to express it, as has just occurred in Soham, unless it affected me personally.

Jeffrey Archer received a four year sentence for perjury and fraud which he is now serving in a theatre, less than a year into his term; Maxine Carr faces life in prison for an error of judgement, although her lie was not even pertaining to the disappearance of the girls.

Both of the accused passed police background tests to take up their new jobs – Huntley as college caretaker and Carr as an assistant teacher at Holly and Jessica's school. She failed to get a full-time, permanent position because of concerns about her abilities, not her personality or background. The vetting system is a shambles and the new school year will begin in chaos, as a direct result of this case.

Neither Huntley or Carr had done anything to arouse suspicion but the police investigation is continuing with checks being made at their parents and grandparent’s homes and plans are afoot to demolish Huntley’s house and replace it with a shrine for the girls, before his guilt or innocence is proven. One gets the impression they have been ‘chosen’ to take the rap, to protect 'others' simply because the caretaker was the last person known to have spoken to the girls.

However, the American Air Force Base at Lakenheath, where the decomposed bodies were eventually found dumped, seems to have been completely overlooked by the same forensic detectives who examined badger sets with a fine-tooth comb, despite the fact that it’s perimeter fence is the scene of the crime and it contains nearly 5,000 U.S. military personnel as well as 2,000 American and British civilian employees assigned to the base.

It is the largest U.S. Air Force-operated base in England and the only U.S. Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) F-15 fighter wing, “providing responsive air combat power, support and services for America and her Allies” in the ‘war on terror.’ By their own admission, the “boys away from home” have a problem with substance and alcohol abuse and two Airmen received a court-martial this year for assaults on the public. One was charged and found guilty on Feb.12th. 2002 and sentenced to six months confinement for random attacks on passers-by in the Cambridge area.

Unless the prosecution has compelling physical evidence to incriminate Ian Huntley, which has still to be produced, RAF Lakenheath should be swarming with police, but strangely it is not even part of this inquiry, although in a similar incident, a State Trooper has just been charged with two counts of sexual battery against a nine-year-old girl in the US. The families of Holly and Jessica are not only the victims of child killers, but also of unsatisfactory investigations and gratuitous exploitation by the press, in their grief. Partly due to irresponsible journalism, they may never witness a fair trial, or see the real perpetrators of paedophilia and murder most foul in their midst, brought to justice.