Mr Ian Huntley, the man accused of murdering the Soham schoolgirls Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells, yesterday described how he "froze and panicked" when he realised that the two friends were lying dead on his bathroom floor.
Giving evidence in his own defence, Mr Huntley told his trial at the Old Bailey in London that he was responsible for the girls' deaths. In dramatic testimony, he described in graphic detail a series of horrific events that took place in his home on August 4th last year, the day the 10-year-old Cambridgeshire friends died.
Ian Huntley (29), a former school caretaker, has pleaded not guilty to double child murder, so the jury must decide if Holly and Jessica's deaths were the result of unfortunate, if improbable, accidents or if, as the Crown alleges, Mr Huntley killed them in cold blood.
"I accept responsibility for the deaths," Mr Huntley told the jury after describing how he bundled the girls' bodies into the back of his car, rolled them into a remote ditch, poured petrol on them and set them alight in an effort to destroy evidence.
"I wish I could turn back the clock, I wish I could do things differently, I just wish none of this had never happened," he said in a quiet and faltering voice. "I'm sorry for what's happened, I'm ashamed of what I did. . . I accept I'm responsible for the deaths of Holly and Jessica but there's nothing I can do about it now. I sincerely wish there was."
Mr Huntley at times appeared to be on the verge of tears as he told Court Number One that his remorse had been so profound he had considered suicide.
But he decided against taking a drug overdose, and instead he promised his mother that he would appear in court to ensure Holly and Jessica's parents heard the full story of how their daughters died.
He told the courtroom that Holly had fallen backwards into the bath, apparently after he had bumped her as he slipped on a bathmat. Jessica had begun screaming, he said, and to silence her he placed a hand over her face.
He did not sexually assault either of the girls, he said. Nor, however, did he try to resuscitate them, and in a move he said he now regretted, he decided against calling the police because he did not think they would believe what had happened.