Deadline nears for Soham police

Police are still searching for any evidence

Police in Soham have until Wednesday morning to charge or release two people suspected of murdering Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

They are allowed to hold school caretaker Ian Huntley, 28, and his girlfriend Maxine Carr, 25, until about 6am on Wednesday, after applying for a final extension on Tuesday.

Caretaker Ian Huntley, 28, is being held

The story of the two girls has prompted thousands of people from across the globe to send e-mail messages of condolence to a special website set up in memory of Holly and Jessica.

Meanwhile, a five-hour post-mortem carried out on the bodies believed to be those of the two 10-year-old girls has proved "inconclusive".

Police said it could take pathologists several weeks to find out how the girls died.

Officers had earlier said they were certain the two bodies - found in remote fenland in Suffolk on Saturday - were those of Holly and Jessica, but formal identification could take some days.

1,000 candles

In Soham, a telephone hotline set up to offer support to residents has been receiving a stream of calls.

Scores of people have signed a condolence book at the town's St Andrew's Church, which has become a focal point for people's grief.

The best friends were missing for two weeks

One thousand candles are flickering in the church in memory of the girls, and a sea of flowers and cards has been left outside.

The Rev Tim Alban Jones, the vicar at St Andrews, said floral tributes continued to pour in on Tuesday.

Lines of bouquets now stretch along all the pathways in the churchyard and are piling up by the church wall itself.

Mr Alban Jones said: "We're having to move them up to make more space at the front."

He also said he had received about 100 letters of sympathy on Tuesday morning, adding: "That's just me, not the families."

More than 11,000 people from across the globe have left e-mail condolence messages on a special website, which can be accessed at www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk.

Holly and Jessica's parents have told of their agony at losing their "gorgeous" daughters and expressed their "heartfelt thanks" for the help and support they had received from across the UK and beyond.

Comforting Soham
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Prime Minister Tony Blair has expressed his "distress" at the girls' murders and extended his sympathy to the parents.

Mr Huntley is being held on suspicion of abducting and murdering Holly and Jessica and Ms Carr, a teaching assistant in the girls' class last term, was arrested on suspicion of murdering them.

Hundreds of people have left flowers at the church

Police are continuing their search around RAF Lakenheath - in the area where the girls' bodies were found - and the home of Mr Huntley's father Kevin, in Littleport, which is about 10 miles from Soham.

Police are also still searching the couple's house, the girls' primary school St Andrew's and the secondary school Soham Village College, which are all on the same site.

They found "items of major interest" at the college.

Special arrangements have been made for pupils due to collect their GCSE results at Soham Village College on Thursday to go to the library instead.

	:	Holly and Jessica
Maps showing focus of the investigation

Cambridgeshire County Council is also talking to police about whether to draw up contingency plans for the start of the new school term on 6 September.

They are discussing whether alternative accommodation arrangements may be needed if the schools' site is still cordoned off.

An education authority spokesman said co-operating with the police was the priority, but having to re locate 1,700 pupils would be a "nightmare scenario ".

Meanwhile, several newspapers have turned their focus onto the background checks carried out on people applying to work with children.

The Times said government officials had demanded full details of information given to Cambridgeshire education authorities by police following checks on staff in the girls' home town of Soham.

If it was found important information had not been passed on in this case, the paper said, there would be calls for the law to be strengthened.