Hailey's Story--She Was an Eleven-Year-Old Child. He Was Soham Murderer Ian Huntley. This is the Story of How She Survived (20 page)

You may notice that the author of this letter writes that the papers concerning my case were re-submitted to the CPS but the information before the Bichard Inquiry was that the papers were not submitted to the CPS.

Subsequently, a letter from Detective Chief
Superintendent
Gavin Baggs was sent to Stephen Richards (my co-author), in response to him asking for information about my case. Dated 14th June 2005, here is a telling extract from it:

âWhilst I am not in a position to answer specific questions about the investigation you will be aware that the Humberside Police made a submission about this case to the Bichard Inquiry. That submission should be available to you via the Bichard website.

I can confirm that the case was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service at the conclusion of police investigation in 1998 and that the decision not to proceed with the prosecution was made by the CPS.'

Bullshit is what I say to that â the information before the Bichard Inquiry was that the case file never actually reached the CPS as it was the police who decided not to prosecute Huntley. It was DCI Baggs who, before a meeting in 2004, asked me to sign a confidentiality
agreement, to prevent me from disclosing any of the contents of the meeting to any third parties. My lawyers advised me not to sign any such document.

Three weeks later, Stephen Hodgson, the lawyer from the Humberside Police, contacted me to say that he had had a telephone conversation with a witness in the case, Jackie Blakey (Katie Webber's mother) who said that she would not release her statement to me. I could not help but ask myself why.

A few days later, my loving brother Hayden indicated on his release form âunder no circumstances whatsover' for his statement to be released â again, why?

As far as I know, Katie Webber has decided not to contact the lawyer at the police and has not responded in any way. James Webber, Katie's brother has also decided to ignore the request.

This is why our justice system fails and this is also
another
reason why child killers and paedophiles can slip through the net.

Obviously, I was upset and angry as to why these witnesses wouldn't allow their statements to be used in court to prosecute the bastard.

Subsequently, I tried to contact Jackie and Katie. They were not able to come to the phone, so I spoke to Katie's Nana, Shirley Blakey.

After saying âHello', Shirley immediately made it crystal clear that none of the family would release their statement. I was brutally attacked by a future child killer
and that had ruined my childhood â what about justice?

In due course, the force solicitor confirmed the following to me:

âI confirm that I have had no response whatsoever to my most recent letters to Katie Webber or James Webber. I think I must now conclude that they do not wish to co-operate. I believe that one or more of my letters must have come to their attention. Failure to respond at all suggests to me that they simply do not wish to engage with the process. Without any response from them explaining their position, I can do little more to pursue this matter â¦'

Obviously, I made my feelings clear. I said that when my book is released the truth would finally be told.

Stephen Hodgson, Head of Legal Services at the Humberside Police
again
contacted both me and the publishers of this book, pressing for sight of the copy. He wanted to know that the âcontents are fair and accurate and do not defame any individuals within Humberside Police'.

In my opinion, The Bichard Report was most fair and accurate. Were the police as diligent as they should have been when I encountered Huntley? Did Huntley live a charmed existence or is there another explanation? Time will tell. But then again, that's another story â¦

EPILOGUE

I
T HAS TAKEN SOME TIME FOR ME TO WRITE THIS BOOK AND IT HAS HELPED ME MOST CERTAINLY TO COME TO TERMS WITH HOW LUCKY
I
AM TO BE ALIVE
. I now have my beautiful family to grow old with and a future that seems to get better day by day. A future that I could only once dream of is now becoming a reality and sharing this story with the world has lifted a huge weight off my shoulders â now people can make their own judgement about me once and for all.

I now plan to travel, to move on from a sad past to a bright future and to make myself successful because I think I deserve it. I think now it's time to spoil myself and leave behind an inevitable spotlight that fell upon me that was, frankly, never asked for.

My final aim in life is to see that my children never have to grow up as quickly as I did. And I leave you with my final thought: Yesterday has been, and yesterday has gone, I live for today because I have won.

CHILDLINE

I
F YOU ARE A CHILD OR YOUNG PERSON NEEDING HELP PLEASE CALL OUR FREE
24-
HOUR HELPLINE ON
0800 1111. Lines can be busy but please keep trying and you will get through.

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We also provide a special helpline called The Line for any young person living away from home. This is the helpline for you if you live in a foster home or a children's home, if you're at boarding school or you've been in hospital for a long time. You can call The Line on 0800 884444 from 3.30pm to 9.30pm on weekdays and 2pm to 8pm at weekends.

To make a donation, go to www.childline.org.uk

Growing up â¦

Two years old and blissfully unaware of what life had in store for me.

The child anyone would wish for â five years old and not a care in the world.

A happy bridesmaid, aged nine.

At eleven years old, approximately one month before the attack.

This picture still fills me with fear â the orchard where Huntley attacked me.

The pub that was situated near the place of my attack.

The pictures on this page and the pages that follow show me being interviewed by the police about the attack. I think my body language clearly shows how very difficult it was for me to talk about what had happened.