UK sport stops for murdered girls

Indian cricket stars Sachin Tendulkar, left, and Parthiv Patel pay their respects

LONDON, England -- Britain's sporting events fell silent for a minute's remembrance on Saturday for murdered 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

All Premiership and Nationwide soccer matches, the Scottish PGA golf championship, the third day's cricket between India and England at Headingley and horse racing at Newmarket observed a similar tribute.

First to observe an impeccable minute's silence were the players and crowd at Maine Road, Manchester, where Premiership soccer side Manchester City were at home to Newcastle United.

At Anfield, Liverpool's home ground, an announcer pointedly asked for all mobile phones to be turned off several minutes before the silence.

Cricket fans at the third cricket Test at Headingley, Leeds, northern England, also paid their respects just before Saturday's afternoon session.

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The fathers of the two girls, Kevin Wells and Les Chapman, are both keen cricket followers. Kevin is captain of the Ely and Haddenham cricket club while Les is a former player at Soham Cricket Club.

At Newmarket, horse racing followers, jockeys and trainers came together to think of the two murdered 10-year-olds, who lived just six miles from the course.

Meanwhile amid a sea of tears and an ocean of flowers, hundreds of mourners gathered together at St Andrew's Church at Soham, eastern England, where the girls lived, to pay their respects.

On the week-long anniversary of the discovery of the two girls' bodies, scores had travelled to the tiny Cambridgeshire town from every corner of the country to pay their own personal tributes.

Jessica and Holly: Manchester United shirts in their memory

The scene was a vivid reminder of the outpouring of grief that graced the nation following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

The parish priest the Rev Tim Alban Jones expressed his "deep gratitude" to all those who had sent messages of support to the families and town.

He said: "We haven't come to terms with the events. We are still completely stunned by the way in which this terrible tragedy has affected everybody across the world.

"We haven't counted the number of flowers but we think it is more than 10,000 bouquets and more than 2,000 soft toys."

Eighteen miles away, at the scene where the bodies were found, a second garden of flowers, 200 yards long and at times five feet in depth, has been created by wellwishers.

More than 150,000 messages of support for the two families have been posted on the special Internet site dedicated to the two girls which has been visited by almost two million people.

Among the bouquets to be laid were a spray sent by Australian prime minister John Howard.

Many wellwishers had left Manchester United shirts identical to those worn by the girls on the day they disappeared. Others simply wore the shirt themselves as a mark of respect.

Messages from every corner of the globe have now flooded the historic church's graveyard, with words of sympathy and support from as far afield as Australia, Brazil, Hong Kong and America. (Story)

St Andrew's Church, Soham, saw thousands more tributes on Saturday

On Friday mourners have been invited to attend a special memorial service for Holly and Jessica at Ely Cathedral, eastern England. The event starts at 5:00 p.m. (1600 GMT) and organisers expect more than 2,000 people to attend.

The inquest into the girls' deaths, which was opened and adjourned on Friday, was told Holly and Jessica were found in a "severely decomposed and partially skeletonised" state. (Story)

It has also emerged that the girls' distraught parents -- Kevin and Nicola Wells and Sharon and Leslie Chapman -- have received hand-written letters from Prince Charles expressing his heartfelt sympathy.

Ian Huntley, 28, has been charged with murdering the girls. He is being held in Rampton top security hospital after been charged with murdering the girls and sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

His girlfriend Maxine Carr, 25, a former teaching assistant who worked at Holly and Jessica's school has been charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice. (Story)

She is being held at Holloway Prison in North London where she has been placed on suicide watch. Police have not ruled out the possibility that Carr could face further serious charges.

Holly and Jessica disappeared from near their homes in Soham on August 4. Their bodies were found at a wooded spot less than 10 miles away on August 17. Post-mortem results have so far not revealed how they died.