IT was the chilling phrase that helped snare a killer.

Last night Channel 5 drama Maxine dramatised the moment Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr were interviewed by a journalist about the last time they saw Soham schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

Despite admitting he didn't know the 10-year-olds, Huntley – played by Line of Duty actor Scott Reid – said he believed Jessica would "put up a real fight and a real struggle" if a stranger tried to abduct them.

It was a jarring statement which raised a red flag, prompting Press Association reporter Brian Farmer to tip off the police.

School caretaker Huntley, now 48, killed the girls at his house in Soham, Cambridgeshire, in August 2002 before dumping their bodies in a ditch.

The days and weeks that followed saw him spin a sickening web of lies – and experts believe that, had he not made five crucial mistakes, he may never have been brought to justice…

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Taste for media spotlight

It was shortly after 6pm on August 4, 2002, that school pals Holly and Jessica left a family barbecue in Soham to go and buy some sweets.

They would never return from their trip.

At the time Huntley, originally from Grismby, Lincolnshire, was living at 5 College Close in the same town with his girlfriend Carr, a teaching assistant in the two girls' class.

The caretaker spoke with Cambridgeshire police, admitting that he was the last person to have seen Holly and Jessica alive, but was initially reluctant to talk to journalists.

Eventually he agreed to one interview – and went on to develop a taste for the spotlight.

Journalist Mr Farmer, who interviewed Huntley, recalls: "He was quite emotional, he was quite upset, it seemed strange, he was more upset than Maxine Carr in his mannerisms and that seemed odd because Maxine knew them [the girls]."

Huntley was reluctant to have his photo taken, which aroused more suspicion.

Sky News presenter Jeremy Thompson, who also interviewed the killer, believes that his interviews with the press were "probably the beginning of his undoing".

In the documentary '5 Mistakes That Caught a Killer' documentary, he said: "He couldn't resist being part of the story."

The publicity backfired in Huntley's hometown of Grimsby, where locals recognised him as someone who had been linked with a sex attack on women.

Meanwhile Carr herself had started speaking to TV crews. Chillingly in one, she referred to Holly – who at this point was still missing – in past tense.

Phone's 'goodbye' signal

As the hunt continued for Holly and Jessica, Chris Stevenson, ex-Detective Chief Superintendent and head of the murder inquiry, refocused the probe on the immediate locality.

He said previously: "It is easy to look back in hindsight and see that by using the media to publicise the disappearance of these two girls and spread it almost worldwide was a mistake.

"One of the first things I did when I took over was to refocus the investigation into the immediate locality.

"It is a standard phrase to clear the ground under your feet and I didn't feel that that had been done."

The refocus included a review of the whereabouts of Jessica's mobile phone.

Police discovered the device – which vanished along with the youngsters – had been switched off at 6.46pm, shortly after the pair had been last seen alive on CCTV.

They expected its 'goodbye' signal – something phones emit when they are turned off – to have been picked up by the local Soham mast.

However it was actually sent to the Burwell mast, five miles south.

Forensic engineers found the one place where this could have happened was "right outside" Huntley's home. The evidence against him was mounting…

Carr caught out

A third mistake was made – this time, by Carr – during the manhunt.

When questioned about her boyfriend's movements that day, Carr claimed they had been together at 5 College Close – even telling detectives what she'd cooked for lunch.

"Yorkshire puddings, cauliflower, cabbage and roast potatoes," she recalled. But this would prove to be a big error.

After checking out Carr's claims, officers discovered she had actually been visiting her mum in Grimsby – 100 miles away – with phone records showing she'd called Huntley several times.

Ex-Assistant Chief Constable Mr Rogers said: "It was a big mistake on her part because we always check these things."

Meanwhile Huntley was visibly struggling under voluntary questioning by police, even sitting in silence for an astonishing 55 seconds after being asked one question.

Clearly, the pressure of lying was getting to him.

Damning DNA

With the two schoolgirls still missing, determined officers made their way back to the secondary school where Huntley worked and carried out a further search.

This time, they made a devastating discovery. Jessica and Holly's clothing was found in a bin, concealed by a plastic liner, inside the building.

The clothes were partially burned and in such a state that police believed Holly and Jessica were dead.

Huntley, who had access to the school, was arrested on suspicion of murder. Carr was also taken into custody and changed her story, finally admitting she was in Grimsby on August 4.

Huntley's fingerprint was later found on the liner inside the bin, while fibres from the schoolgirls' shirts were discovered inside his home and on one of his boots.

Special Constable Sharon Gilbert also revealed how during the search for Holly and Jessica, Huntley had asked her how long DNA lasts for.

She said: "I just thought it was strange, very strange."

Police believe it was after this conversation that Huntley went to the woods where he buried the youngsters' bodies, cut off their football shirts and tried to burn them.

Tyre riddle

On August 17, 13 days after they vanished, Jessica and Holly were found in a ditch near RAF Lakenheath. Due to the state of their bodies, it was impossible to tell who was who.

It would later emerge that Huntley had used his ageing Ford Fiesta to dump the bodies, and had tried to cover his tracks by getting new tyres fitted.

Detectives spotted the tyres in a crucial picture of Huntley, which showed him getting into the red car – taken after his press interview with Mr Farmer.

It turned out the caretaker had bought the tyres the day after murdering Holly and Jessica, even paying the fitter £10 to put a false registration on the invoice.

Despite Huntley's cover-up efforts, forensic geologists found substances including chalk on the suspension arm on the car's front left wheel.

It matched the chalk that was on a track near the ditch where the girls' bodies were discovered.

Locked up for life

Huntley was charged with Holly and Jessica's murders and, after four days of deliberations, jurors at London's Old Bailey found him guilty of the killings and he was locked up for life.

He was later ordered to serve a minimum of 40 years behind bars.

Carr, meanwhile, was jailed for three-and-a-half years for conspiring to pervert the course of justice. Today she is out of prison and living under a secret identity.

Mr Rogers believes she's "equally evil" to her monster ex-boyfriend.

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He said: "There's no doubt in my mind that she knew what had happened. She could have taken the opportunity to come forward, told us what she knew, but she didn't."

Maxine continues tonight on Channel 5 at 9pm.

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