Soham, 20 years on: The detective who solved the case
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 4 August 2022
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This episode contains discussions of violence and suicide.
It's 20 years since the murder of 10-year-old schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman horrified the nation. Times crime writer Sean O'Neill, who as a young reporter covered the story, talks to the detective who brought the killer to justice and reflects on the profound impact the case had on all those involved in it – including himself.
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Guest: Sean O’Neill, Senior Writer, The Times.
Host: Manveen Rana.
Clips: BBC News, CNN.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Alex Dibble from The Times. There's so much happening in the world right now. |
| 0:04.0 | How do you stay on top of it? |
| 0:06.0 | On the World in 10 podcast, near my team, sit down and go through it all in just 10 minutes. |
| 0:11.0 | The Times correspondents join us with eyewitness accounts and interviews. |
| 0:15.0 | I was actually on the orthopedic ward, almost all the injuries are shell far. |
| 0:19.0 | A woman who was inside the police van. |
| 0:21.0 | They also give us their unique analysis of world events. |
| 0:25.0 | Give the world in 10 and listen. It is 10 minutes to stay on top of the world. |
| 0:31.0 | The Times |
| 0:39.0 | It was a crime that horrified the nation. |
| 0:42.0 | 20 years ago today, the 10-year-old schoolgirls Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells |
| 0:49.0 | were abducted and murdered in Soam in Cambridgeshire. |
| 0:55.0 | Good evening. Police in Cambridgeshire have staged a reconstruction |
| 0:58.0 | of the last known movements of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. |
| 1:02.0 | The 10-year-old girls went missing six days ago in their hometown of Soam. |
| 1:09.0 | That summer, day after day, the story led the news and made every front page. |
| 1:15.0 | The whole country watched a ghast as concerned for the missing girls morphed into horror |
| 1:23.0 | when their bodies were found. |
| 1:26.0 | For the police who investigated the crime and for the journalists sent to Soam, |
| 1:31.0 | including the Times senior writer Sean O'Neill, |
| 1:34.0 | it was an experience they still think about today. |
| 1:39.0 | It made me think a lot harder about the impact you have, |
... |
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