06/02/2004

Tagging scheme could see Maxine Carr freed 'immediately'

Maxine Carr could be released from prison and placed on a tagging scheme immediately, the BBC has reported today.

Maxine Carr was sentenced to three and a half years at the Old Bailey in December for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. She has now served 18 months in total, 16 of which were served on remand. Under the Home Office's guidelines, Carr qualifies for tagging as she has served more than half of her sentence.

According to the BBC, Carr has been put forward for the electronic tagging scheme by the governor of Holloway Prison. The head of the National Offender Management Scheme Martin Narey will now consider the application. There is an issue of public confidence to be considered, but if the recommendation is accepted, Carr could be released within days.

Maxine Carr's former boyfriend, Ian Huntley, was handed down two life sentences for the murder of schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

The two 10-year-olds, pupils at Soham Village College where Ian Huntley was employed as a janitor and Maxine Carr worked a teacher's assistant, went missing on August 4 2002. Their bodies were found two weeks later in a ditch at Lakenheath, Suffolk, 13 miles away from the village.

Carr, 26, had admitted making misleading statements to police but only to protect her "very controlling" boyfriend. However, she denied helping her former boyfriend in the knowledge that the deaths had occurred in the house they shared together.

The Old Bailey jury returned an 11-1 majority verdict of guilty on the charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice against Carr. She was found not guilty on two charges of assisting an offender.

(gmcg)

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12 February 2004
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14 May 2004
Maxine Carr is released from prison
Maxine Carr, the former girlfriend of Soham murderer Ian Huntley, has been released from jail after serving a sentence for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Carr, 27, was convicted in December of the conspiracy charge after it was found that she had lied to police investigating the murders of Sarah Wells and Jessica Chapman.
26 March 2004
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