Nearly 2,000 people gathered this afternoon at one of Britain's most famous cathedrals to remember schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.
The families of the slain 10-year-olds led mourners in a poignant service, screened live on national television, at 11th-century Ely cathedral in Cambridgeshire, eastern England. People wore colourful clothes as had been requested in an effort to celebrate the lives of the girls.
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Mr Kevin Wells - the father of Holly Wells - arrives at Ely Cathedral
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The tribute came 13 days after the bodies of the best friends were found on a track in a pine forest outside a US air base.
Holly and Jessica triggered one of the biggest manhunts in British police history when they disappeared August 4th while out for a walk in their hometown of Soham, near Cambridge.
The national outpouring of grief for the girls has been compared to that which followed the death of Princess Diana in a car crash in Paris five years ago tomorrow.
Holly's father Mr Kevin Wells read from a poem he had written himself: "Heaven's gain, as it knows, is simply you Holly, our beautiful Soham rose."
The service at the Anglican cathedral was attended by friends and relatives of the girls' families, Soham residents and by police officers who worked on the case. Entry was by special invitation only.
Soham vicar Tim Alban Jones warned the congregation at Ely Cathedral that a generation of children could grow up without being able to trust anyone as a result of the murders.
"We must not raise our children to live in an atmosphere of constant fear and suspicion, where everyone is mistrusted," he said.
"Of course there are risks in this way and society needs to take every possible step to eliminate or reduce those risks. We need to make sure that the trust and love we teach our children is not misused or betrayed.
High school caretaker Mr Ian Huntley (28) is charged with the girls' murder. He remains in a high-security mental hospital undergoing psychiatric tests to see if he is fit to stand trial.
Mr Huntley's girlfriend Maxine Carr (25) who was a teaching assistant at the girls' primary school in Soham, was yesterday remanded in custody for another four weeks on charges of giving false information to police.
AFP