BUSH VISIT INTERRUPTS SOHAM MURDER TRIAL

[AussieMark]

Bush Visit Interrupts Soham Murder Trial

LONDON (Reuters) - President Bush's visit to Britain will interrupt one of Britain's most high profile murder trials in years on Tuesday, so police at the court can be deployed in guarding the U.S. leader instead.
Officers used in the police escort taking Ian Huntley and his ex-girlfriend Maxine Carr to London's Old Bailey court have been earmarked to take part in the capital's biggest security clampdown ever for a visiting leader.

Former school caretaker Huntley denies murdering two 10-year-old schoolgirls, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, in August of last year in the sleepy English village of Soham, eastern England. Carr denies perverting the course of justice.

On Monday, the judge Justice Moses told the jury that the case would finish early on Tuesday.

"We are losing our police escorts to assist somebody else," he said.

"It is very likely in this instance they are being used in the security operation for President Bush's visit," a spokesman for London police said.

The disappearance of Holly and Jessica sparked one of the biggest manhunts in British history. The discovery of their bodies close to a nearby U.S. airforce base two weeks later sparked outrage in Britain and drew sympathy from around the globe.

The trial has dominated the front pages of Britain's newspapers and received huge media coverage since it began at the start of the month.