The 26-year-old denies two counts of assisting an offender and one of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice

The 26-year-old denies two counts of assisting an offender and one of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.. Dr Carey, who did the post-mortem examinations, said his official findings were that cause of death was “unascertainable due to decomposition”. But asked what his best opinion was, he said: “Although it is not possible to give a precise cause of death, that death must have involved the actions of one or more third parties. In simple terms, 10-year-old girls simply do not die suddenly together.”The former Soham Village College caretaker denies the double murder.The jury was told earlier in the day that Mr Huntley admitted the schoolfriends died in his house and that he disposed of their bodies.The prosecution claims that Ms Carr, while more than 100 miles away at the time, lied for her partner and helped him cover his tracks. “He turned his attentions to Jessica, looked for signs of breathing and found none,” the barrister added.Mr Coward gave the account of the deaths during his cross-examination of the Home Office pathologist Nathaniel Carey, who examined the bodies after they were found hidden in a ditch near Lakenheath, Suffolk, on 17 August last year. They both sat on the edge of the bath as he offered Holly wet tissues.Mr Coward said that the caretaker, to the best of his recollection, knocked Holly into the bath he had earlier filled to wash his dog.”Jessica stood up and started screaming, ‘You pushed her, you pushed her’.

He then turned towards Jessica and either with one hand or two, he is not sure, put his hands out towards Jessica, his memory is over her mouth to stop her screaming,” he explained.At some point Jessica collapsed and he turned back to find Holly, apparently dead in the bath. He joined his friend at the side of the ditch where the burnt and decomposed girls lay side by side.The trial continues.HUNTLEY’S ADMISSIONSONE Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells went into 5 College Close shortly after 6pm on Sunday 4 August 2002.TWO The mobile phone of Jessica Chapman explicitly detached from the mobile network at 6.46pm. Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells died in Ian Huntley’s bathroom as part of a sequence of accidents, the Old Bailey was told yesterday. This was the last recorded signal.THREE Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman died in 5 College Close on Sunday 4 August 2002.FOUR The only other person in 5 College Close at the time of their deaths was Ian Huntley.FIVE Ian Huntley removed the dead girls from the house and transported them in the Ford Fiesta car to the place where they were found near RAF Lakenheath.. “I heard Adrian say, ‘Don’t come any further Helen, go back to the van’,” Mr Prior explained in a statement. In an indication of what was to follow, Mr Coward asked him whether drowning could have been a cause.

The pathologist agreed that it was a scenario he could not exclude, but he would need to be given possible circumstances. The barrister then asked Dr Carey to consider his client’s case. Having been caught “on the hoof” without warning, the pathologist asked for time to discuss the matter with other forensic scientists.The prosecution claim the former caretaker murdered the girls, hid them in a ditch and proceeded to cover his tracks with the help of his partner, Maxine Carr, 26, who had lied to offer him an alibi when she was more than 100 miles away in GrimsbyShe denies two counts of assisting an offender and one of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.The jury was told Keith Prior, a gamekeeper, with friends Adrian Lawrence and Helen Sawyer, went to investigate a smell down the deserted lane on 17 August 2003. There was no evidence of drugs and neither did he believe that the “fit, healthy” children could have died of natural causes.”Although it is not possible to give any precise cause of death, the death must have involved the actions of one or more third parties,” he said. “In simple terms, 10-year-old girls don’t die suddenly together.”His best assessment, he explained, was that their breathing was stopped – either by suffocation or strangulation.