Byline: By ADRIAN SHAW
PALS Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were described as mini David Beckhams as they walked unwittingly to their death, the murder trial heard yesterday.
Linking arms and in matching Manchester United shirts, the girls strolled through their home town minutes before they vanished.
Dramatic CCTV pictures seen by the Old Bailey jury yesterday showed the 10-year-olds dodging puddles on their way to Soham's Ross Pears sports centre to buy sweets.
Richard Latham, prosecuting, said Holly and Jessica were spotted by a number of passers-by.
A motorist who saw them turned to his wife and remarked that they resembled ``two little Beckhams''.
The Old Bailey heard that the girls' route took them past College Road and the home of their alleged killer, Ian Huntley.
Mr Latham said the girls had been at Holly's home on Sunday, August 4 last year.
They played computer games and joined in a family barbecue before leaving around 6.15 pm.
Mr Latham added: ``They were good friends, they went to the same school, they were in the same class.
``Within the first few minutes of leaving, they were seen by a number of people. It was, of course, still daylight.''
Mr Latham said the girls ``simply vanished'' within about a quarter of an hour.
He added: ``There commenced what became one of the largest and most public missing persons inquiries that has ever taken place in this country.
``Everyone directly concerned with the search, the parents, the police and the members of the public who helped, and indeed the wider population of the country, all clung to the hope that sooner or later they would be found alive.''
The hunt ended 13 days later when three members of the public found the bodies of Holly and Jessica by chance.
Huntley andCarr had been arrested earlierthat day. Mr Latham said: ``Hours before, just before midnight, the police had made a significant find.
``That find, together with other information they had gathered during their investigation, had prompted the arrests.''
Mr Latham said: ``Sometimes, murder trials are reliant on facts within a very short compass, a handful of witnesses, police evidence and stark and simple forensic evidence.''
But, he added, the Soham case was different and could not be explained ``in an hour''.
The prosecutor told the jury it was a complex case. He added:``You will be hearing from a large number of witnesses who will cover between them many different topics, rather like a large jigsaw puzzle.
``This case, involving as it does the alleged murder of two 10-year-old girls is, by definition, distressing.
``It is imperative that you should remain objective.
``Consideration and careful analysis is the fundamental principle that applies in any trial in this country and, of course, it applies here.''
Mr Latham spelled out the keypoints on the day the girls went missing.
At 11.45 am, Jessica left her home and walked 760 yards to Holly's house.
Holly had returned from a family holiday in Menorca two days earlier and Jessica had bought her a welcome-home gift of a necklace.
It had the initial ``H'' on it and was decorated with two dolphins.
Another friend, Natalie Parr, was collected from the Wells home by her mother at 12.30 pm and Holly and Jessica went to play on the computer.
At 3.15 pm, family friends Trudie and Robert Wrightarrived for a barbecue. Mr Wright and Holly's dad Kevin had to cook under the shelter of the garage because it was raining.
Mr Latham said: ``By this stage, both girls were wearing identical red Manchester United football shirts.
``Holly's was her own but Jessica had borrowed hers off her friend's brother, Oliver.''
Later that afternoon, Holly's mother Nicola took the haunting last photograph of the girls in their shirts, complete with the logo of their hero Beckham.
The clock on the wall in the picture said 5.04 pm.
The picture was published nationwide when Holly and Jessica went missing.
Mr Latham said: ``It is not often in a missing persons inquiry that the police are in a position to publish precisely how the missing people looked and what they were wearing when they disappeared.''
The court heard that the group sat down to eat the barbecue at 5.30 pm and the children left the table at 6.15 pm.
Kevin and Nicola Wells told police they heard the girls playing in Holly's bedroom.
They did not notice them going out because they were washing up and watching television.
Mr Latham said there were various sightings of the girls over the next few minutes as they walked the streets of Soham.
CCTV footage showed them walking up to the sports centre.
The girls rang the security door buzzer at 6.30 pm and they were let in by the receptionist after saying they wanted to buy sweets.
A woman who saw the girls in the sports centre spotted them a few minutes later as she drove down College Road, the street where Huntley and Carr lived.
Another couple, Mary Norman and Jonathan Watkins, were in College Road at 6.40 pm and did not see the girls, the jury heard.
Between eight o'clock and 8.30 pm, the Wrights left the Wells's home and it was discovered that Holly and Jessica were missing. Holly's dad and his son Oliver went out on their bicycles to search for the girls.
At 8.40 pm, Holly's mum phoned the Chapmans.
Jessica's mum, Sharon, rang her daughter's mobile phone and found it was switched off.
After a fruitless search of Soham, police were called at 9.55 pm.
CAPTION(S):
FAMOUS IMAGE: Holly and Jessica in Man United shirts, left. Two actors take part in a reconstruction of the girls' last walk, top. CCTV footage of the girls at the sports centre in Soham, above; PROBE: Police at Huntley and Carr's home in Soham at the time of the girls' disappearance
