Evil killer Ian Huntley, who took the lives of 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, was caught when an eagle-eyed newspaper reader told a journalist to dig up archives, leading to reports about earlier investigations into the murderer.
Huntley was given two life sentences for the killings of the two young girls after they had gone for a walk together on August 4 in 2002, during a family barbecue in Soham, Cambridgeshire.
The girls were lured into Huntley's home, before he murdered them and disposed of their bodies in an irrigation ditch close to nearby RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk.
Read More : Wanted feud gang member who fled Ireland after killing boasts he's in Mexico
But before he moved to the area, he had been investigated for rape and underage sex with girls.
Huntley had allegedly targeted young girls in the mid-1990s while living in Immingham and in Grimsby.
However, despite services investigating complaints and Humberside Police being involved, there was never sufficient evidence to convict him.
However, a hero reader called the Grimsby Telegraph 12 days after the girls went missing, and Huntley and Maxine Carr, from Grimsby, were detained and questioned.
After checking the newspaper archives at the suggestion of the caller, a reporter in the Grimsby newsroom alerted Humberside Police to the link with earlier investigations into Huntley, Grimsby Live reported.
His name appeared in court reports and allegations of sex attacks - which the Telegraph had published.
Huntley had obtained the job as a caretaker using his mother's maiden name to disguise his previous activity.
His partner, Maxine Carr, worked as a class assistant at the village primary school attended by Holly and Jessica.
After the trial at The Old Bailey, Huntley, then 31, was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Carr, jailed for three-and-a-half years for conspiring with Huntley to pervert the course of justice, is enjoying a life of freedom, complete with the protection of being given a new identity.
READ NEXT:
- Irish baby diagnosed with rare disorder after parents thought she had a cold
Ian Bailey says romantic life is fine despite abuse from strangers
Rain batters country as warning issued by Met Eireann but good weather nears
Man killed in scooter fall tragedy was 'pure gentleman' on way home from mass
Irish parents' heartache as they bury son days after he was sent home from A&E
Get breaking news to your inbox by signing up to our newsletter
