Soham reports 'put Carr at risk'

Carr has already served 16 months of her prison sentence

"Scurrilous and inaccurate" newspaper coverage of the Soham murder trial has put Maxine Carr's safety at risk, according to her solicitor.

Roy James told BBC Radio 4's Today programme she feared revenge attacks.

Carr, 26, was found guilty on Wednesday of conspiring to pervert the course of justice as former boyfriend Ian Huntley was jailed for life for the murders.

She was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail and is set to be freed on licence with a new identity next year.

Mr James said public opinion had been swayed by lurid reports portraying her as the new Myra Hindley, but he denied reports Carr was planning to have plastic surgery.

The trial judge, Mr Justice Moses, said some newspaper reports had been "calculated to blacken Huntley and Carr's characters".

Media in spotlight

The Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, is considering prosecuting two newspapers and a commercial radio station.

Shadow attorney general Dominic Grieve said he was "concerned" about some of the press coverage of the Soham trial.

Mr Grieve told Today: "It is right to say in the case of Maxine Carr that the charges brought against her at any stage were peripheral to the terrible crimes that have taken place.

'Vilification'

"And yet she has been subject undoubtedly to a considerable degree of vilification."

Mr Grieve also criticised the releasing of police video footage to broadcasters which, he claimed, fuelled a media feeding "frenzy".

The media are in a frenzy, but one also has to look at whether that frenzy has been fed by others Dominic Grieve Shadow attorney general

He said: "That struck me as very curious, firstly because of the exclusive nature of the deal and secondly whether this is a new principle - that material obtained during investigations of serious offences should in future be made available to the public.

"There are protections even for serious criminals under the Human Rights Act about whether material privately obtained for a particular purpose, namely their prosecution, can properly be used for a documentary or publicity purpose."

"Media frenzy"

"The media are in a frenzy, but one also has to look at whether that frenzy has been fed by others."

But Mr James said he believed Carr had a fair trial and he said the fact she had been acquitted of assisting Huntley suggested the reports had not influenced the jury.

He said she felt safe in prison but her safety could not be assured when she was released.

Holly and Jessica will never be forgotten in Soham

Carr is likely to be moved from London's Holloway prison to a jail in northern England - possibly Durham - the BBC has learned.

The transfer could take place in the New Year, when a decision is expected on her future after her release in May.

She is likely to be given a new name and identity in the UK, but not in Grimsby - her home town - or Cambridgeshire, where Huntley murdered 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

Carr could be released before May if she successfully applies for a home detention curfew.

As Carr was not a witness in the Soham case, she does not technically qualify for the police's witness protection programme.