Charles 'comforted' Soham parents

Kevin and Nicola Wells want to honour their daughter's memory

Murdered Soham schoolgirl Holly Wells' parents have thanked Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles for comforting them after their daughter's death.

Kevin and Nicola Wells told the Mail on Sunday they had tea with Charles and his companion at Sandringham.

Les and Sharon Chapman, the parents of Holly's murdered friend Jessica, also went to the meeting last Christmas.

The details emerged in an interview published four days after Ian Huntley was found guilty of killing both girls.

The former school caretaker is serving two life sentences.

His ex-girlfriend Maxine Carr was given three-and-a-half years for conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

Family visit

The Wells also paid tribute to footballer David Beckham, who gave Holly's brother Oliver, then aged 12, a pair of autographed football boots.

The gift came on a family visit to the Old Trafford home of Manchester United, arranged by police to help Oliver try and move on from his sister's death last year.

He left us with her skeleton, a piece of buttock, a tiny piece of scalp, and the contents of her stomach Kevin Wells

Holly and Jessica were fans of the club, which Beckham then played for.

Mr Wells says the trip to Sandringham followed a sympathetic letter from Charles at the time of the girls' disappearance.

He remembers Charles and Mrs Parker Bowles "both had touchingly detailed knowledge of our circumstances".

"They put us greatly at our ease.

"We shared an old-fashioned high tea.

Before Holly died she was "happy" and "enjoying life", her mother said

"It was all quite informal, and in fact we found the whole experience very uplifting."

Elsewhere in the interview, Mr and Mrs Wells talk of their intense hatred for Huntley.

Mr Wells says the murderer "took our daughter from us and lied and lied and lied".

Apart from a few charred parts of their daughter's body, "nothing else remained, no face to stroke, no hand to hold," he adds.

The couple also tell the newspaper how they believe Holly died after her friend.

And they criticise some aspects of the police handling of the case, including the fact they were initially treated as suspects.

The Mail on Sunday says a book Mr Wells is writing about Holly will be serialised in the paper next year.