Football shirts boost Soham auction

Officers want to help the families of Jessica and Holly

An auction of football memorabilia has raised £10,800 for a fund set up in memory of murdered schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

Four Cambridgeshire Police officers collected scores of items in an effort to raise money for the fund.

In total there were 72 shirts signed by players from clubs around England and Wales.

Clubs also donated 13 signed balls.

High bids

The shirts and balls have been sold via an internet auction over the past month.

The auction attracted bids from as far afield as Australia with the Manchester City and Newcastle United shirts raising over £600 each.

Holly and Jessica, both 10, vanished after being seen walking near their homes in Soham, Cambridgeshire, in early August.

Their bodies were discovered near Lakenheath, Suffolk, two weeks later.

Both youngsters were wearing Manchester United shirts when they vanished.

Former school caretaker Ian Huntley, 28, has been charged with their murders and with conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

His girlfriend Maxine Carr, 25, has been charged with perverting the course of justice.

Both are awaiting trial.