Maxine Carr, the ex-girlfriend of the caretaker accused of murdering Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, has admitted in court that she lied to police and journalists for two weeks to protect her boyfriend.
Giving evidence in person for the first time at the trial, Carr described how she and murder suspect Ian Huntley concocted a false story about the night the 10-year-old schoolgirls died.
Carr, 26, was a teaching assistant at Holly and Jessica's school and is charged with assisting an offender and conspiring to pervert the course of justice in the case.
Huntley, 29, denies murdering either girl but admits Holly died in the bathtub of the house he shared with Carr. He told the Old Bailey court on Tuesday that Jessica died when he put a hand over her mouth to stop her from screaming.
Carr was visiting her mother in Grimsby the night the schoolgirls died in August 2002.
She broke down in tears when describing how other inmates at Holloway Prison in north London hurled abuse at her and compared her to infamous British convicted killer Myra Hindley.
Huntley has admitted loading the girls' bodies into the boot of his car and driving them to a secluded spot about 15 miles from Soham where he rolled them down a steep bank, cut their clothes off and set them alight.
Carr is expected to take the stand again on Thursday.
