12/02/2004

Maxine Carr's bid for early release is denied

Maxine Carr's bid for early release under an electronic tagging scheme has failed.

The Prison Service confirmed today that the head of the National Offender Management Scheme, Martin Narey, had turned down Carr's application on the basis that her release would undermine public confidence.

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 while on remand.

Carr had been put forward for the electronic tagging scheme by the governor of Holloway Prison last week. While she met the qualifying criteria, the stumbling block was always going to be the public confidence issue.

Carr could yet be considered for early release in May, when she will have served half her sentence, on the grounds of good conduct.

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 burned bodies were found two weeks later in a ditch at Lakenheath, Suffolk, 13 miles 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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