Soham parents stay away

Holly and Jessica vanished on 4 August last year

The families of murdered schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman cannot face being in Soham on the first anniversary of the deaths, and no special services are planned to mark the day.

Instead they plan to spend 4 August away from their Cambridgeshire town and its memories, police said.

On that day last year, Holly and Jessica, both 10, vanished shortly after being seen walking near their homes.

Their bodies were found in a ditch near Lakenheath, Suffolk, two weeks later.

On Sunday police said: "The parents of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman will be spending the anniversary with their immediate families away from the Soham area.

People from all over the country and abroad are clearly still very deeply moved and touched by all that went on in Soham Reverend Tim Alban Jones St Andrew's Church Reverend's reflections: Full text

"They wish to thank people for their kind thoughts and hope people appreciate their desire for privacy at this time."

There are no services planned to mark the anniversary and police have urged people to stay away from Soham over the anniversary period.

Tim Alban Jones, the vicar at St Andrew's church in the town, said the reaction to the events in Soham had showed that "goodness was stronger than evil".

In a meditation written to mark the day, he said: "Not a week goes by without someone writing or contacting me to tell me that they are still thinking about the families and about what happened last year.

Their parents will be away on the anniversary of the day the girls went missing

"People from all over the country and abroad are clearly still very deeply moved and touched by all that went on in Soham."

Soham's Methodist minister, the Reverend Alan Ashton, has written a prayer to mark the anniversary, praying for "peace and justice" to be established and "death and despair" to be defeated.

Two people have been charged in connection with the girls' deaths.

Ian Huntley, 29, a former caretaker at Soham Village College, denies murdering the girls but admits conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

Maxine Carr, 26, denies helping an offender and perverting the course of justice.

They are due to stand trial at the Old Bailey, London, on 6 October.