Soham: The search for answers

By Tom Geoghegan
BBC News Online, at the Bichard Inquiry

From the historic surroundings of London's Old Bailey to the fifth floor of a glass, modern building in nearby Holborn, the search for answers about the Soham murders goes on.

The drama and emotion of the trial of Ian Huntley, convicted three months ago of murdering Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, has passed.

Now the Bichard Inquiry is focusing on how he was allowed to get a job at a college despite a string of sex allegations.

Sir Michael Bichard is a former civil servant

On Day Three, officers from Humberside Police continued to give evidence about why records of allegations against him were deleted.

The evidence was mostly concerned with the technical matters of police procedures, with little reference to the horrific crime which triggered these events.

But written large behind Sir Michael Bichard, chairing the inquiry, was a small reminder: "An independent inquiry arising from the Soham murders."

He sat at the end of a long room set out in a similar way to a courtroom, but with chairs instead of benches, and dozens of laptops in the front desks used by the legal teams.

As if to emphasise this relative informality, Sir Michael Bichard opened proceedings by saying: "We will not be asking witnesses to say oaths, but I would expect co-operation, frankness and the truth."

Hi-tech

Behind the six rows of lawyers, there were 18 representatives from Humberside and Cambridgeshire police, keeping a watchful eye on proceedings.

Among the attending officers was Humberside's Chief Constable, David Westwood, who is due to give evidence on Thursday.

He nodded his head vigorously in agreement to points made by witnesses.

The inquiry was conducted in hi-tech fashion, with two computer screens available to each of the dozen lawyers and Sir Michael.

Huntley was accused of assaulting teenage girls

Two larger monitors in the public seats kept a running transcription of evidence and flashed up documents as soon as counsel referred to them.

There was a certain irony in these attempts to record every minute detail of an inquiry which itself was looking at how vital information was actively erased.

Chief Inspector Roger Carroll, of the Humberside Police Administration of Justice Unit, was the first witness, questioned by inquiry counsel Kate Gallafent.

His evidence centred on the force's contributions to the Police National Computer (PNC).

Most significantly, it emerged that details of a rape case dropped against Huntley could have been retained on police records for a further five years but were allowed to be deleted after the obligatory 42 days.

Empty seats

Mr Carroll maintained Humberside were "acting ahead of the game" in some areas of retaining data on suspects.

But Sir Michael seemed not so sure, and later corrected Mr Carroll when he said it was a possibility a great deal of intelligence which could have been used by other forces was lost because Humberside did not keep information on the PNC beyond 42 days.

Huntley murdered Jessica and Holly in August 2002

Sir Michael asked: "It is more than a possibility, is it not?"

Only one member of the public watched this exchange from rows of empty seats - a reverse of the packed Old Bailey courtroom four months earlier.

And the absence of any press gave the proceedings a false impression of insignificance.

But in an adjoining room, there was a media centre where proceedings, transcripts and documents were beamed about three yards on to three big screens watched by 25 journalists.

It was a reminder that the intense national scrutiny which began hours after Holly and Jessica disappeared continues undiminished as the lessons from that night still emerge.