Maxine Carr

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Maxine Ann Carr ^[1] (born February 16, 1977) ^[2] was the girlfriend of Ian Huntley at the time he committed the August 4, 2002 Soham murders. She was a teaching assistant at St Andrew's Primary School, Soham, Cambridgeshire, which was attended by the two victims.

She provided a false alibi to police for Huntley and was convicted of perverting the course of justice ^[3]. However, she was cleared on two counts of assisting an offender, reflecting the court's acceptance that she only lied to police to protect Huntley because she believed his claims of innocence. She had claimed to be with Huntley at the time of the murders, but was in fact in Grimsby.

On May 10, 2004, Carr pleaded guilty to twenty counts of benefit fraud and of lying on job applications ^[4]. She received a three-year community rehabilitation order for the offences, which had been uncovered as part of the murder inquiry.

The following day she was moved from Foston Hall Prison in Derbyshire to a secret location after documents relating to her release were stolen from a Home Office official's car ^[5]. The papers were later discovered in Hampstead Heath. A 33-year-old man was arrested in connection with the theft of the papers ^[6].

Carr was released on licence on 14 May 2004 ^[7]. Following her release she was put under police protection, as she had received death threats.

In November 2004 Carr was forced out of her Midlands home after her identity was discovered by local residents ^[8].

In February 2005 she won the right to have her new identity remain permanently secret, which was the first time this had ever been granted by a UK court ^[9].

The Daily Mail reported in February 2005 that she suffers from anorexia ^[10]. Her current whereabouts and job cannot be reported in the UK media, though are known both within media circles, and in her current (April 2006) locality ^[11].

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