In 2002, when Jessica Chapman and her companion were enticed away from their home and murdered, she had just turned ten years old.
It is said that the efforts made by the locals and the police to find Holly and Jessica were among the most strenuous and exhaustive in the annals of British criminal history.
They were both murdered on August 4, 2002, although their remains weren’t found until August 17 of that year. As their bereaved family and friends mourn them on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of their deaths, this year marks the horrible event that occurred 20 years ago.
Soham Murders: Jessica Chapman Parents Are Sharon & Leslie Chapman
Jessica Chapman’s cherished parents, Sharon and Leslie Chapman, are the beneficiaries of the long-lost soul that Jessica Chapman has left behind. When the Chapman couple discovered her lifeless body, they were utterly and completely devastated.
According to an article published in Entertainment Daily, Sharon worked at the St. Andrew’s primary school in Soham. This is the same school that Maxine Carr taught Holly and Jessica when they were students.
Carr was responsible for the deaths of the girls and was Ian Huntley’s girlfriend at the time. During the first inquiries, she had even fabricated an alibi for Ian, which she claimed he could use.
Jessica was the youngest of her parents’ three daughters; her two elder sisters, who were 17 and 15 when Jessica was killed, were older than she was.
Because Leslie Chapman was employed as an engineer, and Sharon Chapman was a well-respected member of the school staff in the neighbourhood, the Chapman family enjoyed financial success.
This couple put in a lot of effort to ensure that their three grown daughters had all they could possibly need.
Where Are Sharon and Leslie Now? What Happened To The Family?
After the passing of their youngest daughter and the widespread coverage of the case in the media, the Chapman family chose to remain out of the public eye for the most part.
In most cases, Sharon and Leslie had respected their privacy and avoided interacting with the media, unless the subject matter included their daughter Jessica.
The family had just gotten back from their holiday in Menorca, so the 4th of August was a particularly memorable day for them all.
Jessica hurried to catch up with Holly, her best friend, so that they could attend a barbecue night at Holly’s house and give Holly a necklace with the letter “H” on it that Jessica had purchased in Menorca.
Leslie was all set to begin his new career as an engineer the next day, but then he found out that he had permanently lost his daughter. After the traumatic event, both members of the Chapman marriage decided to take some time off from work and didn’t go back until much later.
A few months later, Mr. Chapman began his new career, but it took Sharon several years before she could go back to school.
Since then, they had reduced the amount of contact they had with the media, but on the first anniversary of the inauguration of the Police National Database, they broke their quiet.
They wished that other families would not suffer the same tragedy as theirs, and the couple has continued to grieve in solitude even though they hoped that other families would not.
ITV Documentary On Holly Wells And Jessica Chapman Murders Enraged Viewers
The hosts of “ITV This Morning,” Rochelle Humes and Vernon Kay, discussed the tragic event and its influence on crime prevention across the country on the 20th anniversary of the deaths of Holly and Jessica, two of their closest friends.
During the course of their conversation, a video footage was played that showed the horrible killer Huntley posing as an innocent man. The behaviour displayed in the video upset many who watched it as well as those who use Twitter, which led to their anger.
Following his conviction for the double homicide, Huntley was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment, each with a mandatory minimum period of forty years. In the meantime, his partner Maxine Carr was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for obstructing the administration of justice.
The fact that both Huntley and Carr had behaved in the course of searching for the girls and had even offered words of regret to the parents is something that viewers continue to find revolting.
They had dragged the bodies of Holly and Jessica into a ditch, stripped them, and then torched them while they were in their state of sorrow.